In the Trees
by Nightfoot
Summary: What was supposed to be a quick trip into Egothor Forest turns into a disaster, leaving Flynn and Sodia with a dangerous trip back to civilization. Who will find the stranded pair first: friends, enemies, or perhaps the thing lurking behind the trees that doesn't seem to be human at all?
1. Vacation Interrupted

Basically, the reason I wrote this is because I think Sodia is a really great character that gets treated pretty poorly by the fandom at large. So, I wanted to give her a chance to shine. Just so you know, there are no pairings and this story will update once a day unless unforeseen circumstances get in the way. Here we go!

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**Chapter One: Vacation Interrupted **

"That was a waste of time." This pointless trip to the Egothor Forest put Flynn in a sour mood. It was hot, too, which further exacerbated him. It was still early enough in spring that he'd worn his long-sleeved uniform jacket this morning, but as the day wore on it got unexpectedly warm and now he was roasting. Sweat trickled down his back and he longed to at least take his armour off, since the metal plates absorbed heat.

"At least we can confirm that nothing is wrong," Sodia said.

Flynn wasn't interested in her optimistic reasoning. He didn't want to think positively; he wanted to complain about how hot and stuffy his armour was. He was _supposed_ to be on vacation, dammit. It was the first vacation he'd taken since becoming commandant about six months ago, and he had to admit he was due for one. The entire autumn and winter blurred together in a haze of meetings, paperwork, troop inspections, and naps snatched at his desk. It had been Estelle's idea that he take a vacation before he burned out, and though he hesitated at first, the closer he got to finishing his preparations and leaving the castle, the more enthusiastic he got. It would be such a nice relief to take two weeks off and recharge.

He had been only _minutes_ from leaving his office when a knight arrived with an urgent report. Despite his better judgement, he'd reluctantly sat down to glance it over and sighed. Someone had reported suspicious activity around the abandoned blastia cannons in Egothor Forest. Blastia were gone and the cannons didn't function any longer, but if suspicious characters were nosing around and possibly trying to find a way to use them again, it needed to be checked out. Since Flynn had already arranged to spend the first half of his vacation in Aurnion with Yuri, he'd reluctantly decided to check it out while he was in Hypionia. After hiking all the way into the forest to investigate the cannons, though, he'd found no evidence of anyone being up here, let alone tampering with the old cannons. What a colossal waste of time.

He was grateful that Sodia had come along, at least. This wasn't an official Knight mission but she'd volunteered to investigate the forest with him, and to provide backup in case he ran into any monsters. He appreciated having someone to talk to, even if he couldn't stop thinking that he ought to be in Aurnion hanging out with Yuri right now. "I'd be willing to bet there was never any sighting. The report came from Mimula Cumore - I'd bet five hundred gald she just wanted to waste my time." Mimula was Cumore's equally-awful sister, and she'd spent the past five months in jail for trying to blow up the capital. Flynn really needed to have a serious talk with the Council about letting nobles get absurdly short prison sentences for serious crimes. She had still come close to murdering thousands of people, even if she did have loads of money and titles and she cried about how it was all her butler's fault and he put her up to it.

"That's what I was thinking, sir."

Now, if only there was a way to _prove_ she'd been full of shit and he could fine her for wasting Knight resources. Except this wasn't an official Knight mission. Dammit. They were still at least several hours from leaving the forest, too. They walked along a narrow ridge with a cliff wall to their left and dense forest stretching out below to the right. About fifty feet down was a creek winding along the edge of the steep slope. The trickling of water and the rustle of wind through the sea of trees were the only sounds, and despite his aggravation, Flynn had to admit he'd missed the quiet. It was never truly quiet in Zaphias, where you grew accustomed to carts trundling by at two in the morning and learned to sleep through it.

"Well, when you get back to Zaphias, file a report saying there's nothing out here," he told her. "We'll be out of the forest by this evening and then it will only take a couple of days to cross to Aurnion. You can get transport back to Zaphias from there."

"I know, sir. I'm not concerned about-"

The ambush was on them before she could finish her sentence.

Flynn's sword was out and swinging before he even consciously thought about what was happening. Two men had sprung around the turn on the path, taking them by surprise. It was only Flynn's instinct that kept the first one's sword from hitting Flynn's throat. Sodia was just as quick with her sword, and Flynn trusted her to hold her own. Blades flashed in the burning sunlight, and as the enemy's sword scraped his arm he was suddenly very glad he hadn't taken off his armour. They'd been expecting to run into monsters, not assassins.

Too skilled to just be bandits, he thought with a grunt as the one he fought forced him to stagger backward. He glanced warily to edge of the path and the steep fall. These fighters meant business, and they seemed to have been expecting them. Flynn had a pretty good idea that Mimula had wanted more than just to waste his day.

They might be more than your average thug, but Flynn was far from your average victim. He pressed forward, forcing the assassin to back up and defend against a torrent of sword strikes. Flynn locked eyes with the man, his own face a mask of fury. He was having a bad enough day without half-assed assassination attempts. This was hardly the first time a noble had tried to get rid of him, and hardly the best thought-out. Two assassins against him and Sodia? Please.

The assassin bled from several wounds by now, Flynn noted with satisfaction. He was already slowing down and Flynn didn't see this fight lasting too much longer. From the sounds behind him, Sodia was winning too, although he wasn't about to take his eyes off his opponent to check. With a grunt and a final great slash, he knocked the sword out of the assassin's hand. The blade tumbled down the slope while the assassin pinwheeled his arms to maintain his balance.

Flynn paused, not sure if he wanted to kill the guy so comically flailing on the edge of the cliff. They hardly seemed like trained assassins, and it would be better to arrest them so they could testify against Mimula. How could they take them prisoner, though? They still had a long walk across Hypionia to get to Aurnion. While Flynn considered this, the would-be-assassin lunged at him. This took Flynn by surprise, giving the assassin a chance to grab the front of Flynn's jacket and jerk him forward. Flynn brought his sword around, but it was an awkward angle. With one hand gripping Flynn's shirt in a vice grip, the other tried to grab Flynn's right hand and steal his sword.

The pair grappled, Flynn more pissed off than worried. What was this idiot even trying to accomplish? He tried to shove him off, but the man pulled him forward, and then stuck out his own foot and tried to trip Flynn.

"Stop!" Flynn commanded. "You've already lost, you idiot, just surrender!"

The assassin tried to throw Flynn to the ground. He did this by taking a big step back to gain momentum, but then his foot came down on the edge of the path. Flynn tried to shake him off in frustration, shoving him further backward. The assassin's eyes went wide as his balance gave out, and he toppled over the side. Unfortunately, he still maintained that vice grip on Flynn's jacket.

They tumbled down the slope as the world turned upside down, flipping over and over. The assassin lost his grip, and Flynn toppled in a mash of limbs and clanging armour. He could barely breathe as the world flipped around and he couldn't tell which way was up. Rocks and small boulders dislodged by the activity rained down the slope with him. At one point he caught a glimpse of a large boulder in his path but there was nothing he could do to avoid it. His leg smashed against it, creating a _clang_ almost loud enough to drown out the accompanying _crack!_

The fall itself couldn't have taken more than a few seconds. When he finally came to a stop, he lay on his back and stared at the sky in shock. The circle of tree tops around the edge of his vision continued to spin and it took almost a minute for his head to clear.

_I'm alive…_ he thought dimly, honestly surprised. He could easily have snapped his neck on the way down. Mud oozed under his hair, which he was thankful for because it meant his skull had landed on something soft and not a rock. As he came to his senses, he gradually became aware of a dull ache settling over his entire body. A flurry of alarm bells rang in his head, ever part of his body trying to send a distress signal. It was so overwhelming he couldn't figure out any details beyond a blur of pain, wet, sore, bleeding, _pain_.

The first thing he needed to do was take stock of his injuries. He was alive and conscious, which was a good sign. The first thing he noticed was that breathing was painful; his ribs were probably either broken or at least bruised. He raised his arms to examine them, and when he twisted his right wrist, pain shot through his arm. Ow, ok, that was a problem. His gauntlet felt uncomfortably tight, likely because his wrist was already swelling. He couldn't tell if it was broken or sprained, but for now the important thing was that he couldn't lift his sword if he needed it. Moving his arms also pointed out that the spaulder on his left shoulder had dented from the fall and the metal dug painful into his back, though it didn't seem to have broken skin. All of his armour was dented, actually. As much as he'd griped about how hot and heavy it was earlier, he was thankful he was wearing it now. He certainly had a lot of bruises underneath, but few open wounds.

All things considered, he seemed to have gotten off lightly. It could definitely have been worse. Then he looked to his legs, to see if he could figure out what was causing the intense pain in his right leg. When he looked, his chest sank.

His right leg below the knee bent inward. The armour itself had bent, and he thought back to that crack he'd heard when he hit the boulder. The greave was tight like his gauntlet, and he imagined inflamed skin swelling around a broken leg, pressing against the tight metal.

The next thing he noticed was that half of him was freezing. He slowly turned his head, hair squelching in the mud, and realized he'd landed half in the creek. Freezing water soaked his left leg, which was already going numb. On his hip, his coat was torn and blood mingled with the slow moving water. It was still early enough in spring that this creek was fed by melted snow. He couldn't lie here getting soaked until he got hypothermia. Gotta get out of the creek…

He moved his right leg, but then immediately stopped with agony rocketed through his limb. Ok, definitely couldn't move that leg. There wasn't room on the bank to pull his left leg out of the water without moving the right out of the way. Maybe he could used his arms to drag himself up. As soon as he planted his hands in the mud, he was viciously reminded of the sprained wrist and his arm collapsed. Pushing with only his left arm just led to slipping in the mud and pulling on the not-quite-numb wound on his hip.

Screw it. He lay still and tried to take shallow breaths to avoid exacerbating his ribs. He resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't moving by himself any time soon. He closed his eyes against the bright sun and tried to relax. Freaking out wouldn't help, and he trusted that Sodia would be here soon to help. Boy was he ever glad he hadn't come out here alone.

A splash caused his eyes to flash open. Staggering toward him was the assassin, wavering and clutching his sword with one arm while the other hung limp at his side. Flynn craned his neck and spotted his sword lying on the creek bank a few feet away, the blade half-submerged. He reached for it with his left hand, the armour digging deeper into his back. It was still out of reach, so he pushed against a rock in the creek with his left foot and tried to push himself further along the bank. His right leg dragged through the mud, sending shots of pain through him, but he ignored that and struggled to reach the sword. His fingers clawed at it, but it was still too far away.

The assassin was getting closer. He was clearly badly injured, but determined to finish his job. Flynn wasn't about to lie down and let himself get stabbed so he took a deep breath and twisted onto his side. Every muscle throbbed and protested the movement, but he told those muscles to shut up because they'd be a lot more unhappy with getting stabbed. There was no time to worry about bruised ribs when his sword was only a foot out of reach. He pulled his left knee up and pushed, half-dragging and half-crawling along the bank. He felt nothing from his right leg but white-hot pain, and his racing heart throbbed in his shin.

With a final, adrenaline-fuelled lunge he grabbed his sword in his right hand and then swung it around in an arc. He slashed across the assassin's chest and then passed his sword to his left hand as his wrist nearly gave out. The assassin stumbled and clutched his bloodied chest, and Flynn thrust his sword forward to finish him off. He didn't have the luxury of considering whether it would be better to try to arrest this man when he couldn't even stand. The assassin's corpse fell into the creek and Flynn let his sword drop to the ground, wondering if it had always been that heavy.

Swinging a sword had definitely not done wonders for his wrist. While lying still and trying to relax again, he absently squeezed his wrist and tried to think about anything other than how messed up his leg was. He'd broken bones before, but never his leg and never so severely that the limb was actually distorted. He didn't like looking at it, because there was something viscerally horrifying about his body being in the wrong position.

A rustle of dirt cascading down the slope caught his attention and he raised his head quickly to see if it was the other assassin. With relief he saw Sodia, who had carefully climbed down the slope. She was uninjured, but her eyes narrowed with concern when she saw him. "Sir, are you alright?"

Flynn lowered his wrist and propped himself up on his elbows. It hurt, but he could do it and he didn't want Sodia to think he was completely helpless. "There's nothing life threatening. The worst seems to be my leg. Where's the other assassin?"

"Dead," she said quickly. She crouched next to him and glanced up the slope. "Sir, do you think you can make it back to the path?"

The path seemed miles away from his place on the ground and his leg throbbed just thinking about trying to walk on it. "I'm… not sure. Definitely not without assistance. I don't think I can walk." Saying it aloud hammered in the reality of his situation. Even if they got back to the path, they were still deep in the forest and several days away from Aurnion. They were cut-off from any form of help, and he couldn't walk. How the _hell_ were they going to get to Aurnion?

"I'll splint it," Sodia said, taking control of the situation. "You're also bleeding. Once I've treated your injuries we can figure out how to get back to the path."

He nodded. The longer he lay still, the more adrenaline he lost and the more pain he became aware of. "Right. I need to get this armour off."

She didn't even say anything before setting to work on the buckles holding his greave in place. Flynn let her work, trying to distract himself from the pain by concentrating on the way the trees seemed to glitter as the swaying leaves alternated specks of sunlight. He flinched when the armour finally came off and air hit his exposed leg. She had to lift his leg to pull the back piece out from under him, and his fingers clenched in the mud at the movement.

"It's definitely broken, sir," she said while surveying it, "but it looks like a clean break. It's lucky you were wearing armour - there isn't any blood. It looks like it snapped instead of shattering."

"Oh. Great. Do we have any apple gels?" He started undoing the buckles on his gauntlet before his ever-expanding wrist burst out the seams.

"You were carrying them, sir. Where's your pack?"

His heart skipped a beat. Where _was_ his pack? He looked to the creek and his heart sank when he saw it spilled open, the contents drenched. The water wasn't moving fast enough to wash them away, but the gels were already over half-dissolved in the water. "Uh-oh. They're in the creek." He instinctively started to move to get them himself, which was of course a stupid idea. Sodia leapt up and ran for the creek, leaving Flynn to cast aside his gauntlet and expose his throbbing wrist to fresh air.

Sodia hurried to the water and salvaged the gels she could. She also grabbed the water canteen, the first aid kit, and a soaked pair of socks. She left the bread, though, which was soaked and now inedible. "This is all we have," she said, holding out three partially dissolved apple gels. "I don't think this will be enough."

Flynn wearily shook his head. Apple gels couldn't fix broken bones in the first place.

"In addition… sir, I don't think you can eat these, anyway." She frowned and looked down at them. "They're soaked-through with creek water now. They might make you sick."

Flynn groaned in frustration. "Is there anyway to make them safe to eat?"

"We could boil them," she suggested. "Boiling will kill any bacteria. It would completely dissolve them, though."

Flynn thought this over, though it was hard to think straight when he hurt all over and desperately wanted to eat an apple gel, contaminated though it may be. _Calm down and think rationally_, he told himself. Getting himself sick would hardly help in the long run. He wasn't currently bleeding to death so it wasn't like he _needed_ the gel to survive. "Boil them," he said. "It'll mix with the water and dilute their power, but better than getting ill. Pour it into my canteen and I'll drink them." At the very least, it should work for moderate pain relief.

"Yes, sir. I'll do that after I tend to the rest of your wounds." She set the gooey gels in a tin pot pulled from the pack and then pulled out both his first aid kit and her own. "I'm going to cover the gash on your hip first. Sir, I need to pull up your shirt to get to it."

"Right." He reached for his belt, but Sodia got there first.

"Sir, please just lie still and let me do this. I'm going to pull you out of the water."

He lowered his arms and leaned his head back. She slipped her arms beneath his torso and carefully pulled him up the bank until he was out of the creek. He tried to move his leg as little as possible, but couldn't avoid stabbing pain. That done, Sodia undid his belt and set it aside. She opened the front of his jacket and pushed his shirt up to his chest.

"How bad is it?" In the time that had passed, the dull throbbing has turned into a stinging ache.

"It doesn't look too serious," she said, wiping away the blood with a cloth found in the first aid kit. "You probably scraped it on a broken root or a sharp rock or something like that." She gently laid folded cotton dressing on the wound and then wrapped bandages around his waist to hold it in place. "Now, your leg…" She pursed her lips. "I'm going to need something to splint it. Give me a minute; I'll get some tree branches."

He nodded and let her run off, splashing across the stream. With Sodia gone, his mind was left to wander. He eyed the path high above them and wondered how the hell he was going to get back up there. Sodia might be able to carry him a short distance, but not up a slope that steep and not for an extended time. She could hardly drag him all the way to Aurnion. The only thing he could think of was that perhaps with his leg splinted he'd be able to hobble along with a walking stick or leaning on Sodia. He didn't have enough experience with broken legs to know if that was feasible, but it was the only thing he could think of.

Sodia returned with two long, solid branches that she'd stripped of leaves and twigs with her knife. She then took the knife and cut the cloth of his pants at the knee and then gently slid the tube of fabric down his leg. Flynn winced when she nudged the swollen leg, but didn't comment. With the skin fully exposed now, he grimaced when he saw the angry red and purple swelling around the misshapen shin.

"Alright, sir, straighten your leg as much as you can."

Flynn gritted his teeth and pushed his leg out, trying to get it straight. It was still bent a few degrees inward, but that was as much as he could do. He shuddered to think what state it would be in if it hadn't been armoured. Sodia cut her blanket in half and then wrapped each branch in fabric so they wouldn't be so rough and then positioned them along either side of his leg.

"Almost done, sir." She wrapped strips of bandages around his ankle, right below his knee, and above and below the fracture. She tied them snuggly and then sat back nervously. "There. I… think that should do it."

Flynn sat up on his elbows and surveyed his leg. He had no medical knowledge beyond casting First Aid, and without his blastia he couldn't even do that. "I guess so. I wouldn't know any more than you. Are there bandages left? I want to wrap my wrist."

"Yes, here." She scooted closer to his arm. "I'll get that for you."

Flynn held up his arm and Sodia carefully wrapped bandages around it, circling his wrist and wrapping around his palm. When she was done, she looked down and said, "Is there anything else?"

"I don't think so." He was covered in bruises but there wasn't much he could do about that. "Help me up. I want to see if I can walk."

He draped his arm around Sodia's shoulders, steeled himself, and let her slowly lift him. Muscles ached and his left leg scrambled to find the ground but he managed to get himself upright. He wobbled and clung to Sodia, balancing on one leg. She took a slow step forward, and Flynn hopped along with her. For a few seconds, he really thought this was going to work. Then Sodia experimentally tried stepping uphill, but when Flynn tried to hop after her he didn't jump high enough. He stumbled, pain tugging at the cut on his hip. His broken leg swung forward and kicked the ground. Every muscle clenched and he hissed, "_Shit_," before he could stop himself. His flailing threw off Sodia's balance, and on the steep slope this caused her to fall to her knees, bringing Flynn down with her. His leg smashed into the ground and he let go of Sodia with a shout.

They both sat still and panted for nearly a minute. Flynn's leg throbbed with agony and tears welled up in his eyes. "Sodia… this isn't going to work."

"No," she said softly, sitting upright. She looked over her shoulder to the path with a frown. "I could try to carry you."

"I'm too heavy for you." He pictured his bruised ribs pressed against her back in an awkward carry, and then imagined Sodia stumbling on the steep slope and falling backward while trying to hold his weight. The absolute last thing he needed was to fall down that cliff a second time. Sodia couldn't carry him up, and he could hardly make it up on his own. He had to face reality: he was not getting back to the path. He could only think of one solution, even though it filled him with dread. "Sodia, you're going to have to leave me here."

"What?!" Her head shot to him in alarm.

"Get out of here and make your way to Aurnion. Find Yuri and tell him what happened. He can fly here with Ba'ul and carry me out."

"I cannot leave you here by yourself."

"I don't like it either, but it's the only option. I'm stuck here," he had to keep his voice from wavering. Being immobile in a dangerous forest was a frightening position to find oneself in. "But there's no reason for you to sit here too. You have to go and get help. No one in Aurnion even knows we're here, and they won't realize we're missing for days."

"I understand, sir, but I can't leave you here. The blood from the dead assassin is going to attract monsters looking for a quick meal. What will you do? You can't even stand, let alone wield a sword."

"Don't remind me. We still have some basic barriers to ward off monsters."

"Not enough. And what if more assassins arrive to finish you off?"

"I know it isn't an ideal situation, but we don't have any other choice. There's no point in both of us sitting around and waiting for monsters to show up. Go to Aurnion; at least one of us needs to get out of here to report what happened, even if it's too late for me by the time you get back." His voice took on an angry edge, which was mostly to hide how nervous he was. There were few things Flynn found more frightening than being trapped and unable to defend himself, and he didn't want Sodia to see how scared he was.

"No, sir," she said firmly. "I will not leave you here alone."

"Dammit, Sodia, that is an _order_!"

"One that I cannot follow!"

They glared at each other, each as stubborn as the other. Flynn let anger hide his fear, because getting mad at her for disobeying was better than letting the panic of being crippled and unable to hold a sword in the middle of nowhere take over. He was too sore to beat Sodia in a battle of wills, though, so he let his head fall back and stared at the sky. "Why do I let you get away with ignoring my orders?"

Sodia managed a tiny smile. "Because you know I'm right, sir."

"What do you propose we do?"

Sodia turned her eyes to the creek. "There's a river near the entrance to the forest. We'll follow the creek and take the long way around to rejoin the path away from the cliffs."

"Alright, but I still can't walk."

"I can construct a stretcher with a blanket and some tree branches. I'll drag you out."

"And then what? Drag me all the way to Aurnion?"

"If I have to."

Flynn couldn't help but chuckle at the fiery determination on her face. "You're even more stubborn than Yuri."

She scowled and looked away. "Please don't compare me to him, sir."

Flynn frowned, but wasn't in the mood to argue this. "Alright. Help me across the creek and we can get moving."

It turned out there was a lot to do before they could get moving. Sodia helped Flynn out of his armour, which they cast aside and decided to leave behind. It was too heavy for Sodia to carry and he had more armour at home. He pulled his jacket off because it was much too hot for it, and Sodia soaked it in the creek since the back was now covered in mud. As it lay out to dry, he wished he could do the same for his muddy pants. He had no way to get his pants off around the splint without completely cutting them off, and he did need to put them back on again when they were clean. He also couldn't get the mud out of his hair, which dried and made the back of his head chunky and dirty. It bothered him, but he still preferred it to landing on something harder.

Sodia said there wasn't a point in wasting their matches to start a fire now, so the apple gels remains un-boiled and inedible. Flynn found himself staring longingly at the pot they sat in, tantalizing thoughts of pain relief dancing in his head. He needed to do something to distract himself from his leg. Helping Sodia would be ideal, but there wasn't much he could do when he was stuck lying on his back. Damn, this was annoying. While Sodia busied herself with constructing a stretcher, his mind was left to daydream about what would happen if his leg didn't heal properly. It was still crooked, after all. Would he be crippled for life? He imagined limping along with a cane while trying to direct troops in a battle and his stomach flipped with worry.

"It's done, sir," Sodia said, pulling her masterpiece over to him. She'd taken two strong saplings and stripped them of branches to make smooth wooden poles, and rolled the edges of Flynn's blanket tightly around each pole. Pins pulled from his abandoned armour had been hammered into place with the hilt of her dagger to serve as nails, holding the blanket firmly to the frame. A third, smaller branch sat perpendicular to the poles at one end, held in place by notches carved into the wood and rope wound around each end. It would hold the frame in position, so the poles wouldn't cross together while dragging it.

"Nice work. You're good with your hands."

"Thank you, sir. I'm going to pull you onto it now. Ready?"

"Go for it."

She grabbed him under the arms and dragged him over the edge, dried mud scraping off his thighs as they rubbed the wooden base. He winced as it bumped his leg, and sighed in relief when he was in position. Sodia stood and surveyed the scene. "I've put all our supplies into my backpack," she said, running through a mental checklist. "There's no point bringing yours - you can't carry it and one of the straps broke on the fall anyway. I've already searched the assassins for any useful supplies. There's nothing else for us here, so we should start moving. Do you think we should leave a note or some sign of which way we went in case rescue does come?"

Flynn had thought this over since Sodia started working. "No. The first person to realize we're missing will be whoever sent the assassins - likely Mimula Cumore - when they don't report back. It's more likely for more assassins to show up to finish the job than for any rescue party, and I'd rather they don't know where we're going."

"Good thinking, sir. Well, if there's nothing else we need to do here, let's get moving." She grabbed the ends of the posts and hefted him up. Without further notice she started to walk, the stretcher dragging behind her.

Flynn watched the path grow farther away. There wasn't much else to do while lying uselessly on a stretcher. This trip had certainly taken a sudden turn for the worst. His whole body had settled into a dull ache with a few bright points of strong pain, such as his wrist, hip, and especially his leg. He had to wonder if this was some divine punishment for daring to take a vacation, and decided it would take a mountain of convincing in a joint attack from Estelle and Yuri to ever talk him into trying this again.


	2. Bump in the Night

By the way, I got a lot of backstory information on Sodia from the manga Flynn, The Holy Silver Knight. There's also a lot of headcanon in this to fill in the gaps. Sodia being a noble is stated in the manga. Oh, and yes the cover of the story is one I made. The background is a stock photo; the link to the source is on my tumblr.

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**Chapter Two: Bump in the Night**

Flynn was asleep, though Sodia wasn't sure when that happened. He was never particularly chatty while on missions, so she hadn't noticed that his quiet was due to being asleep rather than simply not talking. It was no surprise he'd fallen asleep give his state; his body needed rest after gaining so many injuries.

Sodia felt partially responsible for Flynn getting injured. If she had been more on top of things, she might have noticed the assassins before the ambush. She could have finished off the one attacking her more quickly so she could have helped Flynn before he fell. She could have packed more apple gels so that he wouldn't be in so much pain. She could have talked him out of taking on this mission in the first place. After all, he was supposed to be on vacation and it was just like him to go out of his way and try to get one more job done before taking time off.

There were so many things she could have done, but it was too late to worry about them. For now, she had to get him to Aurnion. The ends of the stretcher dragged parallel lines through the dirt along the side of the creek, taking them further and further away from the path. She could hear her parents' words in her head: _if you ever get lost in the woods, pick a tree and hug it and sit tight until someone comes to find you_.

She gave her parents a quick mental apology for ignoring their advice as she dragged Flynn away. The trouble was that they didn't _want_ to be found, because the person doing the finding would most likely be an enemy. When the two assassins didn't report back, more might be sent. Next time it could be three or four or even more attacking them, and Sodia doubted she could fight them all off while also defending a crippled Flynn. It was too dangerous to put their hopes in help coming, so they would have to get to Aurnion by themselves.

When she got back to Zaphias, she was going to spend every second of Flynn's vacation gathering the evidence she needed to prove Mimula Cumore was responsible for this attack. That awful women was as bad as her brother and she epitomized all the worst aspects of nobles. With people like her dominating the scene, it was little wonder why Sodia was embarrassed to be a noble herself.

She couldn't help but smile as she thought about how some of her relatives would react to this situation. She already had an uncle who loudly voiced his disapproval of Flynn at every family dinner. Sodia could never be sure if he thought he was successfully being vague in his condemnation of "lower class peasants who thought they could give orders to their betters" or if he just didn't care if she knew he was explicitly talking about her boss. Conversations with her Great Aunt Ethel were even worse as she constantly urged Sodia to resign from the Knights and pursue a more ladylike career. These conversations were worse largely because she wore dentures and her rants about "that shameful Scifo upstart" spewed saliva in a three feet radius. Sodia was certain Great Aunt Ethel would have _things_ to say about her building blisters on her palms from dragging some "peasant lowlife" through the woods.

As much as Sodia disagreed with her family, she did wish she'd mentioned to them that she was taking a trip to Egothor and expected to be back in a couple of days. Then they might notice that she was missing and send help. She shifted Flynn's weight and tried to move the stretcher posts away from her growing blisters. Maybe it was just as well; she would never live it down if she had to get rescued by her family. She would have to do something they'd really hate to get the upper hand again. Like maybe if she started dating Flynn and her mother had to confront the possibility of having a man from the lower quarter as a son-in-law. Yeah, that would show them! Picturing her family's reaction was the only reason she found herself daydreaming about being in a relationship with Flynn. Ha. Ha-ha.

She sighed and glanced over her shoulder at Flynn's sleeping face. That strong jaw, his startlingly blue eyes that crinkled when he smiled, messy blond hair he constantly (but never successfully) tried to comb flat… She would be lying if she said she didn't think he was attractive, but daydreaming about her childish crush wouldn't get them out of these woods any faster. She already knew he would never return her feelings, and she had accepted that. Unrequited love wasn't that difficult to live with, and it was stupid to feel sorry for her emotional pain when Flynn was dealing with much more pressing physical pain.

It was also stupid to feel, even if in just a tiny and illogical part of her brain, betrayed. Flynn wasn't the only one knocked off his feet by this injury. She had never consciously thought about it, but she had come to see Flynn as somewhat invincible. He was a shining beacon of hope for the empire, able to surpass any obstacle. He was so much more than just a man: he was a symbol the people could rally behind and a driving force that would bring about the change she had always wished to see in the empire. Now he was flat on his back, crippled and helpless, by something as mundane as falling down a slope. She'd been horrified when he had been injured at Zaude, but that had felt, in a way, proper. The noble knight rushing to take a blow for someone who clearly didn't deserve it while confronting the head of the corruption they sought to undo.

When she saw him sleeping uneasily, his jacket tattered and bloodstained, his leg held together with wood, and his armour left behind in a heap, he suddenly looked so… human. He was just a normal man. Not even a man; he was barely more than a boy, really - only twenty-one. His injuries would heal, of course, but Sodia didn't think she'd ever be able to forget how his voice had trembled with almost-hidden fear when he'd told her to leave him behind. He was a god brought down to mortality, and she didn't know if she'd ever be able to see him in that former glory again.

* * *

Flynn awoke to the smell of smoke. Something crackled near his head, probably a campfire. He opened his eyes and saw a pink sky through gaps in the trees and it took him a few seconds to remember where he was. Trying to move is what reminded him. He winced and froze; oh, yeah, he had a broken leg.

"Are you awake, sir?"

"Yes." He propped himself on his elbows and looked around. They were in a small clearing by the creek, with trees pressing close around them. Across from him was a large bush that looked vaguely like a sleeping eggbear, but the faint whiff of a basic barrier told him no monsters would be getting close. Sodia had made a circle of stones to contain the fire, and a small pile of wood sat beside it. She'd clearly been busy. "How long was I asleep?"

"I'm not sure. Most of the afternoon, I believe."

"I'm sorry." There wasn't much he could have done while conscious, but he still felt like he should have stayed awake to at least give Sodia some company. She'd carried him all afternoon and done the work of getting the fire set up, and all he'd done was sleep.

"It's perfectly fine, sir." She sat across the fire on a sleeping mat, and then crawled around to hand him his canteen. "Here, I already boiled the apple gels for you."

Flynn's eyes lit up. "Oh, thank you!" He instinctively reached with his right hand, and then second-thought this with a twinge of pain from his wrist. He grabbed the canteen with his left and then awkwardly manoeuvred it against his chest with his right so he could twist off the cap. Warm, sticky apple wafted to his nose, like hot apple cider. He only allowed himself to drink a third of the canteen at once, because he wanted to space out the gels so the pain relief would last as long as possible. It was like drinking syrup, but even as he put the cap back on he could feel pain ebbing away.

"I hope it helps," Sodia said. "We have some dried pork and biscuits for dinner." She passed him a tin plate with food. "I'm trying to ration it, though the biscuits will go bad in a few days anyway."

"Good work." Flynn to a moment to appreciate how lucky he was to have a subordinate like Sodia. She was so on top of things. Part of him wanted to promote her to captain and give her a brigade of her own, while part of him wanted to keep her at his side forever. He pushed himself fully upright, wincing at the strain on his ribs, and then started to eat. "Did you already eat?"

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry I didn't wait for you."

"No, no, it's fine. I don't mind at all."

"Alright."

Flynn ate in silence, not sure what to say. It was rare that he and Sodia were alone together when they weren't working on some pressing Knight matter. Usually they were in a group of Knights or talking about work. All his work had been wrapped up before they left because he was on vacation, and now he was at a loss of what to talk about. Sodia seemed to be in a similar state and both of them sat awkwardly in the growing dark with only the crackling fire to fill the silence.

As the sun slipped below the trees, Flynn made an awkward jab a small talk. "So… what do you plan to do while I'm on vacation?"

Sodia shrugged. "Work, I suppose. I'm not on vacation, after all. Although…" she looked around at the trees, "given our present situation, it seems like I'm going to be spending a good chunk of your vacation hiking through the forest."

"Sodia, I'm really sorry about this." He was intimately aware that were it not for him, she would be out of the forest by now. She could climb back up that slope to the path with ease, and was only here because he'd gone and broken his damn leg.

Sodia shook her head. "You can hardly apologize for being the victim of an assassination attempt, sir. It isn't your fault someone tried to murder you."

Flynn smirked and said, "Well, technically it is. People want me dead because of my actions and the decisions I've made. I simply don't regret them." On the contrary, it was actually somewhat uplifting to think someone wanted to assassinate him. If he wasn't actually getting anything accomplished, no one would want him out of the way.

"Actually, sir," Sodia said, "we've been working with the conclusion that Mimula Cumore is to blame, so have you considered that she may want you dead for more personal reasons than politics?"

"Personal?" Flynn spent so much time working he barely even had a personal life, let alone a reason someone would want to kill him for non-political reasons.

"The specifics behind Captain Cumore's death are still unclear. All anybody knows is that you reported him dead." She hesitated, looking to the fire instead of him and said, "There are those that think you murdered him."

Flynn's heart skipped a beat. "I what?" It had never even occurred to him that the situation might be viewed that way.

"I trust you, sir," Sodia said, quickly looking up. "I'm simply saying that some other people think you were responsible. You say you saw him fall in after tripping and arrived too late to save him, but there was a rope right next to the pit…"

For a second, Flynn wanted to shout that Yuri had been the one to murder Cumore. Sodia said she trusted him but there was a tiny flicker of doubt in her eyes, and Flynn hated that she thought him capable of murdering someone. He held it in, though. He didn't want to say anything that would lower Sodia's opinion of Yuri even more. "I didn't," he said firmly.

"I never said you did, sir," she said with a hint of apology. "But if Mimula thinks you did, she may want to kill you as revenge for her brother."

"You're right. Damn, this makes things complicated." He frowned and set his now-empty plate on the dirt. "A political killing would have been a noble simply trying to get rid of me when a convenient opportunity arose. But if this is personal, she'll be much more dedicated to following through."

"Even if no more assassins attack us in the forest, it would be unwise not to expect a follow-up when we return to Zaphias."

Flynn nodded and wondered if Alexei had also been forced to live in constant threat of assassination. This was just something he was going to have to get used to now that he had a high-ranking position of authority. "I'll pay more attention to security."

"Food tasters are already employed for His Majesty. We should establish that with your meals, as well."

The idea of paying an innocent servant to test his food for poison made Flynn feel dirty inside, but he had to admit it was practical. As long as it was announced that someone else would be testing his food for poison first, there would be no point in trying to poison his meals. Food tasters were effective because it was publicly announced that they were there, not because they actually found poisoned food. "I suppose that would be logical. I should probably stop walking home from the lower quarter late at night on my own, too."

Sodia didn't say anything, because the look she gave him got her point across succinctly. Had it been accompanied by words, they might have been "With all due respect, sir, I have been telling you that for six months, you ninny."

For the next half hour, they discussed security increases they could enact around the castle. Flynn was grateful they'd finally found a topic they could discuss without drifting into awkward silence, even if he didn't plan to actually use half their suggestions. It was just something to talk about.

When the sun had completely disappeared and the fire burned low, Sodia said, "I think it's time for bed."

"Even with the barrier, I would feel more comfortable if we slept in turns."

Sodia nodded. "They're not fool-proof. Do you mind taking the first shift, sir? You slept all afternoon so I assume you aren't tired yet."

"Yes, that's fine." It would be nice to do something useful for Sodia after she'd taken care of everything this afternoon. He glanced around the camp and said, "Uh, would you mind helping me scoot around to that tree?" He had to sit with his leg stretched awkwardly in front of him, and if he had to sit still and stay awake for a few hours, he'd like something to lean on.

"Of course, sir."

Fifteen minutes later, Sodia lay on her mat and tried to fall asleep. Flynn was seated comfortably - or as comfortably as he could be with a broken leg and nothing but the bumpy ground to rest on - against a tree close to the fire. He sat on the stretcher, because it was easier to drag the whole thing around than to pull him off it. The pile of wood was in arm's reach, so he could add additional wood as the fire burned low. His sword rested on the ground by his left hand, ready to be picked up at the first sign of trouble. Flynn wasn't sure what good he'd be with it in his left hand, but it was better than nothing.

The night trickled on. At first Flynn had jumped at every sound, before realizing these things weren't imminent monsters but simply the background lull of the forest. He'd been stupid earlier when he thought about how quiet nature was. Maybe it had been quiet on the path, but down here there was nothing but a cacophony of owl hoots, insect chirps, and small things splashing in the creek. Leaves rustled, and he pictured something small and furry investigating the edge of the awful smell that kept the monsters at bay.

The fire burned low and he tossed another log on, wondering what time it was. Sodia was fast asleep, and Flynn didn't feel like waking her any time soon. She'd told him to wake her up halfway through the night so she could take her turn keeping watching, but Flynn had no intention to wake her until it was nearly dawn. Unlike Sodia, he had the luxury of being able to sleep all day. Better that she get lots of rest at night and let him sleep through the morning while she dragged him.

The moon was high in the sky now, hovering right above his head in the small clear spot between the branches. It was still only a crescent, so it didn't give much in the way of light. Even with the fire, the night was cold and he pulled his jacket tighter. _There, see? It's a good thing I wore this today_. He hated the weather in this season. The nights still stubbornly clung to winter while the afternoon blazed straight on for summer, leaving him with the worst of both depending on the time of day.

He sat up and was about to put another log on the fire when he suddenly realized he couldn't hear the crickets anymore. He froze with his hand on the log, straining his ears but hearing nothing but the fire and water over rocks. No owls. No rustling bushes. No unknown animals making weird yipping noises. The woods were silent as a grave. Flynn may be a city boy at heart, but even he knew that nature going silent was not a time to celebrate the peace and quiet.

As he thought that, the hair on the back of his neck prickled and an uneasy feeling settled over him. It felt like he was being watched. Nervous eyes scanned the trees, looking for any sign of a monster who braved the barrier, but saw nothing. The forest was absolutely still, and he didn't dare move a muscle in case that kicked something off. He considered calling to Sodia, but thought better of it. Something had frightened the rest of the forest into silence; it would be foolish not to follow their example. Even though he couldn't place how he knew it, there was _something_ lurking just behind the trees, watching him.

His fingers twitched for his sword, though he didn't know what good that would do. It wasn't like he could fight with a crippled leg. Thoughts of his disability caused his heart rate to spike. The dark shadows seemed to press tighter together, threatening to smother him. He couldn't walk. He couldn't stand. He couldn't fight back and that left him feeling more trapped than any chains could. Whatever was lurking in the trees was still there, _waiting. _For what, he didn't know but he could sense its presence like a stranger in dark room.

There! His eyes locked on a shadowy form hiding behind the trunk of a nearby tree. He couldn't make out any details, but it was large and still. He couldn't tell where its head was, but he just _knew_ that it was looking straight at him. His skin crawled under its penetrating gaze and he swallowed hard. He couldn't call out to Sodia now if he wanted to, because his throat was glued shut. What did it want? It wasn't moving. Was it resting, or simply biding its time? Perhaps it was waiting for him to go to sleep…

A small breeze. The edge of the shadowy thing rustled, and with a start Flynn realized he was looking at the huge bush he'd seen earlier in the evening, the one that looked like a sleeping eggbear if you tilted your head just right. He let out a deep breath and finally managed to pull his eyes away, feeling foolish for letting himself get freaked out by a bush.

In the distance, an owl hooted. Maybe he was just imagining things. He was so used to the hustle and bustle of the city that in the absence of other humans, his brain tried to find evidence of other life by telling him he was being watched. He'd never heard of a monster crossing a barrier, and if one of his knights had come babbling about a monster he could "just sense", he would have politely told that knight not to drink so much before bed.

Flynn picked up the log his hand had rested on and tossed it into a the fire, releasing a flurry of sparks. He turned his head from the sudden bright light, and nearly jumped when he thought he saw a large animal. The panic only lasted a second, because the surge of light from the refreshed fire clearly illuminated leaves on the bush. It was just the eggbear bush that he'd…

His heart froze.

If that was the eggbear bush over there… what had he been looking at straight ahead? His head turned so slowly he could almost hear it creak. The shadow was gone.

Flynn sat wide awake and alert for the rest of the night.

* * *

"Why didn't you wake me up last night?" Sodia asked, pouring powder and oats into the pot of boiling water to make porridge.

"I thought you needed the sleep more than I did," Flynn said, speaking with his eyes closed and arms crossed as he leaned against the tree.

"You need rest as well, sir." She stirred the pot with a frown. Flynn couldn't actually see it because his eyes were closed, but he knew Sodia well enough to recognize the tone of voice. "Getting adequate rest is important to speed your recovery."

"I don't want a speedy recovery," Flynn said, and then opened his eyes to see Sodia's confused face. "My leg is still crooked. The faster it heals, the more stubbornly crooked it's going to be for the rest of my life. I'd prefer if the two pieces were still separate by the time we reach a doctor who can set them straight, but I don't know if that's feasible. I'm sure they can work something out." He wasn't, but he had to believe they could. He didn't even know if they would let him remain in the Knights if he ended up with a permanently gimpy leg. The curdling fear that he'd never be able to walk properly was much more terrifying than a lengthy and unplanned hiking trip. Although, there had been that one frightening thing last night…

In the light of morning, it seemed silly to freak out about a shadow and a bad feeling. It was embarrassing how frightened he'd gotten last night over something as little as animals shutting up for a minute and paranoid feeling of being watched. There were thousands of things in the woods with eyes that would explain feeling like something was watching him, and the shadow had probably been a trick of his eyes based on the flickering fire light. Still, he hadn't reached where he was today by ignoring his instincts. "Sodia, I think I saw something last night."

"Something?" She portioned out the porridge into two tin bowls. "What sort of something?"

He frowned. "I'm not sure. In the middle of the night, the forest went deathly still and… I felt like I was being watched. I can't explain it, but I could just _tell_ there was something out there. I think I saw a large shadowy shape behind those trees over there," he gestured behind Sodia, "but when I looked back it was gone. I'm really not sure what happened, or if there even was something, but… I have to admit, it gave me quite a fright."

"Hmm…" Sodia peered at the trees behind her, and then got up to investigate. Flynn slowly ate his porridge, watching Sodia as she examined the ground where he'd seen the shadowy shape. He was half-afraid some giant monster was going to lunge out of nowhere and gobble her up, though he felt stupid for even considering it.

"I don't see anything, sir," she said as she walked back to their camp. "No trampled grass, no footprints, no sign that there was anything there."

Flynn shook his head. "It must have just been my mind playing tricks on me. Don't worry about it." He was stressed, in an unfamiliar environment, and still rattled from the fall and his aching leg. It was no wonder his head had made something up.

When they were done eating, Sodia washed the dishes with the last of the boiled water. Flynn took another drink of syrupy apple gel and some water from Sodia's canteen. It was still warm from being boiled, but better than nothing. He tried not to drink too much, though, since she was going to be using much more exertion today. She packed up all their things, kicked out the last of their fire, and then helped Flynn get settled lying back on the stretcher. Flynn slipped a bit when she first hefted him up, but he braced himself against the support beam with his good foot and Sodia positioned it low enough that the angle didn't send him slipping to the ground. Everything packed up, they hit the path.

It took a while for Flynn to fall asleep. Every bump and gully on the ground jarred his leg, which kept waking him up just as he started to drift to sleep. Sodia was busy looking straight ahead, searching for the smoothest ground along the edge of the creek and doing all the hard work of carrying their supplies and dragging him. Flynn had the luxury of lying still and watching the trees grow smaller in the distance. In the shining morning light, all the flowers on the bushes seemed to glow with colour and the bright green leaves looked like something out of a postcard. This part of the forest had never been explored by humans as far as Flynn knew, and the undisturbed nature overflowed with life and colour. The very thought of some dark and horrible monster seemed impossible when confronted by such natural wonder.


	3. Blood and Silliness

**Chapter Three: Blood and Silliness**

"Commandant, wake up!"

Flynn woke with a jolt, and the subsequent stabs of pain this caused his injuries was enough to fully wake him up. "What's the situation?"

"Monsters approaching, sir," Sodia said, her sword drawn.

Flynn was on high-alert in seconds. He struggled upright and surveyed their position. He sat next to a tree with a wide strip of grass between him and the creek. Approaching them from the woods ahead was a pack of Cluckits. Flynn was relieved; these things looked like a chicken that had swallowed a balloon and hopped along on stick-like arms. He'd seen more threatening toddlers, and had every confidence Sodia could take care of them.

Sodia did not disappoint. She tackled the pack with ease, carefully blocking their clawed attacks and lightly stepping around to avoid letting any of them get behind her. Flynn smiled as he watched her fight, confident that he'd picked a competent knight to be his second.

One Cluckit broke off from the pack and looked to Flynn with a cocked head. Actually, it cocked its entire body because it didn't really have a distinct head. It hopped toward him, and Flynn reached for his sword. He'd always considered these things more of a nuisance than an actual monster, but they were suddenly a lot more daunting when you were stuck on the ground with a busted sword-hand.

"Get back!" He swung his sword at it with his left hand, hoping to frighten it off before it actually started attacking. The Cluckit was undeterred, and Flynn decided he didn't want to be sitting here at its level. He glanced up and saw a branch on the tree within his reach. He sheathed his sword and grabbed it, kicking off with his left leg and dragging himself to his feet. He gasped for breath when he made it, every muscle pounding, and leaned against the trunk for support. "I said get back!"

The Cluckit hopped backward as he whipped his sword out again. He'd been trying to actually slash it, but with his clumsy left hand he missed. He thrust at it a few more times, the persistent monster constantly evading his attacks. The bright red comb on its head wobbled back and forth and it kept opening its mouth to show off its sharp teeth.

In a quick movement, a tongue so long it must have been rolled up inside its entire body shot out. It smacked right into his injured hip, no doubt aiming for the blood on his ripped jacket. He grunted as it smacked the still-healing wound and the blow sent him off balance. He instinctively tried to catch himself with his right leg, and then shouted as he accidentally put all his weight on his broken leg. He toppled to the ground, which didn't do good things for his ribs or dozens of bruises, and dropped his sword.

The Cluckit leapt forward with what could only be called excitement. It jumped onto his chest, pressing painfully on his ribs. Flynn didn't bother trying to manipulate his sword at close range and shot his hands forward, grabbing it at an approximation of shoulders, and gritted his teeth as it pressed against his sprained wrist. Dammit, there was no way in hell he was going to get killed by a chicken balloon.

The monster hissed and struggled against him, its bulky tail smashing around in aggravation. So far it had avoided smacking against his leg, but Flynn didn't want to count in that lasting forever. The long tongue shot out again and slathered across Flynn's face.

"Ugh!" He turned his face away and tried to throw it off. His wrist pounded and threatened to give out on him at any second.

The monster went rigid, and Flynn turned his head to see Sodia standing over him with her sword in the Cluckit's back. Flynn sighed in relief as she tossed it aside and finished it off. The rest of the pack was already dead.

"Are you alright, sir?" she asked, sheathing her sword.

"The only serious injury was to my pride." He thanked the stars Yuri wasn't here to see this, or he'd never live it down that he'd nearly been bested by a Cluckit.

"I think you can be forgiven, sir," Sodia said with a smile. "How's your leg?"

It felt like a porcupine had crawled into his shin and was now thrashing around in a desperate attempt to escape. "Fine."

Sodia pulled him back onto the stretcher and Flynn took a sip of apple gel syrup. "Do you think you can hold one of them as I carry you? We can have fresh meat for dinner."

He nodded. "I can do that." Stupid little bastards. It would be quite satisfying to eat them after one of them tried to eat him.

With a Cluckit in one arm, Sodia picked him up and they started moving again. He was awake now and didn't feel like going back to sleep, especially in case they got attacked again. As they moved, Flynn looked at the dead monster in his arm and glared at it. They were so stupid looking, like someone had let a three-year-old child design monsters. People lived in terror of monsters, and _this_ is what passed as a threat? Mostly, he was just sulking because he was mad the stupid thing had nearly gotten the better of him.

"Sodia… when you get back to Zaphias and you write a report about what happened in the woods… don't include this part."

Sodia glanced over her shoulder. "That would make my report incomplete, sir."

"Yes, well, you don't need to include _every_ detail. The Council doesn't need to know what we had for breakfast, for example."

"Are you certain, sir? The people need to know that every monster can be lethal, even to the commandant."

"Sodia…"

"Reports are supposed to indicate any major injuries, and you seem to have suffered a severe blow to your pride."

Flynn craned his head back to look up and meet her eyes. Based on the smirk on her face, he realized she was teasing him. Disgruntled, he lowered his head and glowered at the trees.

Sodia laughed and looked ahead. "If it makes you feel any better, sir, I can say it was an eggbear."

Flynn didn't dignify this with a response. He supposed he should be thankful that Sodia and Yuri weren't on speaking terms, because Yuri was the _last_ person he wanted knowing about this. He would end up going to his grave being teased about getting beaten by a Cluckit. Eager to change the subject to something less humiliating, he said, "You know, it occurs to me that you seem awfully comfortable in these woods, Sodia."

"What do you mean, sir?"

"I don't know anything about forests. I'm on edge around all this nature. I'm a city boy at heart, but you seem at ease."

"It's nothing terribly exciting, really. I spent a lot of time in the woods as a child, that's all."

"I see." Satisfied with this answer, Flynn settled in for a rest to let Sodia hike in peace. Then he thought about it more, and her answer didn't add up. "Actually, hold on. When did you spend time in the woods? You're a noble from Zaphias."

"I didn't always live in Zaphias. My father used to be the magistrate of a small town up north."

She shifted the weight of the stretcher, and Flynn felt a now-familiar stab of guilt that she was going through so much strain and effort to drag his useless ass along. "And your parents let you play in the woods? Even with monsters?"

"Actually, our town had a fairly unique arrangement. It was a farming community, and the barrier extended beyond the limits of civilization to protect the crops. Over the years, though, more and more people emigrated to the capital in hope of a better life, and many fields stood empty. Within a couple of generations, the forest spread and reclaimed the land, so a segment of the wood was actually within the barrier. My siblings and I spent most of our childhood running around through the trees. It's really amazing how quickly nature can retake settled land if you drop your guard."

A forest _inside_ a barrier? Flynn would have loved to see that before the barriers disappeared. All the thrills of a wild forest with none of the threat from monsters. He imagined Sodia as a little girl, running freely through the trees, and felt a bit envious. When he was young, his playground had been the gutters and alleys of the lower quarter. They were constantly getting shooed away or forced to play in dirty, cramped hiding spots behind the main streets. The closest he and Yuri had had to wilderness were the dandelions that grew in the weed-infested patch of grass behind Hanks' house. Looking back, Flynn certainly wouldn't want his own children playing there, if he had any, because they could easily have been seriously hurt by the rotting wooden frame they called a castle and the rusty nails struggling to hold it together. What they wouldn't have given for a wild forest to call their kingdom…

"We lived there until I was about fifteen," Sodia said, jarring him out of his thoughts. "The barrier failed during the Great War and my family moved to Zaphias."

"You were fifteen during the Great War?"

"That's right, sir."

Flynn did some quick math. "Wait, but that means you're… twenty-five?" He twisted as much as he could to look around at her, though she was still staring ahead.

"I just turned twenty-six."

Flynn silently watched the trees slide by for a few seconds. He was still twenty-one for a few more months. He supposed it made sense that Sodia was older him, since she was his second in command and Flynn was uniquely young for his position, but he'd never really thought about it before. "I didn't know you were older than me."

She glanced back at him for a couple of seconds. "Is that a problem, sir?"

"No." He shook his head. "If I had problems being in command of people older than me I'd never get anywhere."

"True enough. As far as I know, all the senior officers are older than you. If it means anything, it doesn't bother me, either."

"That I'm younger?"

"Right. I trust you and your ideals. I think it just means we have a lot to look forward to as you grow even stronger with age."

He smiled. "Thank you, Sodia. Your support does actually mean a lot to me."

Sodia struggled to find words. "Oh, um… well, you've more than earned it, sir."

"I hope to continue to do so."

* * *

Sodia was eager to keep moving and cover as much ground as they could, so they didn't stop until the sun was so low in the sky they couldn't see it above the trees. The forest was shrouded in dark shadows, broken only by the soft beams of sunset that managed to cut through the dense forest. The cool air was a mix of insect whines and the last songs of birds heading for bed and the first chirps of bats waking up. Sodia pulled Flynn to a stump, half-rotting with sides covered in moss, and said, "Can you get the Cluckit ready to cook while I gather firewood?"

"Yes, ok." He was eager to do something to help after Sodia had done all the difficult work so far. She held out her knife, but they both realized the problem the instant Flynn reached for it and winced. "Actually…" He dropped his wrist and sighed through gritted teeth. "I can't."

"I'm sorry. I forgot." She sheathed her knife.

"I could try with my left hand," Flynn offered, desperate to do something useful.

"With all due respect, I really don't think that's a good idea, sir."

She was right, of course. He couldn't even manage hitting a large bulbous target with a sword, and he expected to be able to do precision knife work? Trying to use his left hand was like working while intoxicated. "Is there anything I can do?"

Sodia looked around the trees. They had taken a short detour away from the stream because the bank was covered in rocks that made dragging the stretcher difficult, but they could still hear it off to their left. All around them were trees and dense bushes. "Can you find enough rocks within grabbing distance to make a fire circle?"

"I can try."

"Alright, do that and I'll gather firewood."

She walked away and Flynn reached to grab the nearest rock. He could still hear Sodia tramping through the underbrush, but she was out of sight. The sun was going down and Flynn thought again of that strange shadow he'd seen the night before. He'd shaken it off this morning, but as night arrived once more he found himself feeling uneasy.

Up until recently, he hadn't known that Entelexeia existed. What other mysteries might the world be hiding in its dark and unexplored corners? More importantly, how many of them would he stand a chance against with a busted wrist and a broken leg? The urge to call out to Sodia rose in his throat, but he snuffed it down. The only monster nearby was a Cluckit, and it was already dead.

Twigs cracked behind him and he jerked around - ow - but only saw Sodia emerging from the trees with a pile of kindling. "How's the circle, sir?"

He gestured to a semi-circle of stone. "I can't reach any more rocks. I'm sorry."

"I'll finish it," she said, setting down the wood and kneeling on the other side of the circle. She easily grabbed stones from around the stump and placed them in a ring.

Flynn looked down at his hands in frustration. "It's odd, don't you think? They're identical, but one of them is blunt and clumsy. Why can't people move both their hands with the same ease?"

"I never really thought about it, sir." Sodia didn't even look up as she finished clearing the circle and setting up a teepee of kindling.

"Yuri can." Flynn thought enviously of the way Yuri seamlessly tossed his sword from one hand to the other, slashing at the enemy with whichever hand was convenient. How did he _do_ that? Flynn couldn't even brush his teeth with his left hand.

"I think you'd be better off not comparing yourself to him," Sodia said with a barely masked scowl as she lit a small pile of shredded leaves with a match.

Flynn dropped his hands. "You know, you should give Yuri a chance. I think if you two got to know each other, you'd get along well."

"If you say so, sir."

Flynn had been in the Knights long enough to know the polite way to tell one's commander you thought they were an idiot. "We would most likely have all perished due to the Adephagos were it not for Yuri," he reminded her.

"I understand that, sir," Sodia said, carefully watching the growing fire. "But he's… well, it's possible to appreciate the things a person has done without liking them as a person."

Flynn frowned as he watched her face, which was concentrating on the fire. She seemed overly engrossed in watching the wood burn, and Flynn wondered if she was using it as an excuse to avoid showing any feelings on the Yuri matter. They had gotten off on the wrong foot right from the start, but ever since Yuri came back from Zaude, things had been downright icy between them. He had to wonder if they'd gotten into some huge argument when they met in Capua Torim before meeting him in Hypionia. He wouldn't put it past them; they were both so set in their ways, ways which were similar enough to bring them close but then different enough to grate against the other. They butted heads like identical poles of a magnet. "Fair enough."

The fire had caught on to the kindling, and Sodia finally looked up at him. "Forgive me if it's not my place to ask, sir, but… where did you even meet Yuri Lowell? You're such different people and it confuses me how you befriended that…" she carefully sought a word that wouldn't irritate Flynn, "rogue."

He shrugged, holding his hands up to soak in the warmth of the growing fire. The damp, decaying leaves mixed with chilly soil and bits of moisture seeped through the blanket of the stretcher. "It's no big story. I suppose we were more similar when we met, at the age when wanting to play the same games was a more important aspect of friendship than similar world views. We were good friends throughout childhood, but it wasn't really until my parents died that we became as close as we are now. Yuri was also an orphan, so with no one else to turn to, we stuck together." He pulled his right hand back, because the heat made his swollen wrist uncomfortable. He glanced up from the fire to see Sodia staring at him. "Is something wrong?"

"No," she said quickly. "I… didn't know you were an orphan. I had heard that your father died in the Knights but I just assumed your mother was still alive. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed."

"No, no, it's fine. I think assuming people's parents are alive is a much happier way of living than to assume they're not. Besides, it's not like I go around talking about it all the time. You couldn't have known." It occurred to him just how little he actually knew about her. He understood her personality and how she worked, but they had never really talked outside of work. Their personal lives were a mystery to each other.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did she… um, die?"

"She got sick." His throat tightened like it always did when he talked about this. He always thought he had moved on, and for the most part he had. She had died over ten years ago and it was hardly as if he burst into tears at the very mention of her. Still, when it came to pulling up the specific memories of her last couple of days and inevitably mulling over everything he might have done differently to help her, the pain whacked him over the head in a reminder.

He didn't want to go over the exact details, so he moved on. "My father had been killed a couple of years earlier, so when she died we lost the house. I was only ten so I could hardly pay the bills myself. I had no other family and nowhere to go, so I ended up on the street."

Flynn avoided looking at Sodia's face, because he knew it would be full of pity. He was hardly interested in telling her this to gain her sympathy; he already had her respect and that was all he could ever want from her. He didn't think of himself as particularly downtrodden and there were many people in the lower quarter who had it much worse off than he ever had. What he really wanted was for Sodia to understand Yuri. He didn't demand that she liked him, just that she could see the same thing Flynn saw in him, and understand why Yuri meant so much to him.

He smiled and said, "I don't think I would have survived a week if it weren't for Yuri. He'd been staying with us for the past year or so, and he'd drifted between other people's homes for most of his life, but he'd spent some time on the street before and he knew how to survive. He showed me where the best places to get free food were, where the warmest place to sleep was on the cold nights, and most of all he kept my spirits up. I was still reeling from losing my mother, but Yuri refused to let me wallow in that grief and showed me that my life wasn't over. If not for him, I might have died from exposure that first night."

He risked looking at Sodia. Sure enough, he spotted the pity. He was used to it by now, though. Lately, almost everyone he interacted with was a noble and whenever the topic of his background came up it was always met with either pity or disgust. Compared to the other option, pity wasn't so bad.

One thing did confuse him, though. When he first glanced up, he could have sworn he had caught the tail end of guilt on her face before it switched to pity. Why the subject of his history with Yuri would make Sodia feel guilty was a mystery to him, but he didn't feel like pursuing it this evening. Eager to move on from Sodia pitying him, he said, "Why don't we get that Cluckit ready to cook?"

"Right," Sodia said, quickly jumping up to grab it. She set the monster's body on the stump and kneeled over it with her knife. "Er… where do I start?"

Flynn stared at it. "Um…the meat part?"

"All of it is meat."

"The beak isn't."

"Alright, so we've ruled out the beak as a place to start eating, at least. Am I supposed to skin it first?"

"Probably. I don't want to eat feathers."

"How do I do that?"

"Don't ask me. You're the one who spent her childhood on the woods."

Sodia shot her head to him, her face a mix of frustration and fear. "Yes, but I've never skinned an animal before!"

"Well, neither have I! I told you, I'm a city kid. I didn't set foot outside Zaphias until I joined the Knights."

"Um…" Sodia stared at the Cluckit and then gingerly poked it with her knife as if it might explode.

Flynn scooted toward her as best he could. "There's probably a lot of meat in the big centre part. Try cutting it open."

"R-right…" Sodia gripped the feathers with on hand and pulled up to get a clear view of the skin, and then slid her knife into the abdomen. She made a quick slide to pull back the skin, exposing intestines below. She jerked back and let the skin flap drop with a gasp.

Flynn's stomach twisted and suddenly fresh meat sounded a lot less appetizing. "Oh dear."

"I was expecting to find meat."

With a grimace, Flynn peered around the monster. "But… how do we find the meat?"

"It's got to be under here somewhere." She took a deep breath, gripped her knife firmly and sliced the Cluckit open along its belly. Rather then exposing the meat, all she managed to accomplish was to cause internal organs to burst forth and splatter the white feathers with blood.

"Ack!" Flynn scrambled to crawl backward before the intestines falling from the corpse could land on his foot. It had not been his most manly scream. "Don't - don't do that!"

"I'm sorry! I thought if I ripped it open I'd get to the food!" She had an edge of panic in her voice as she stared at the increasingly horrific scene she'd created. "Why do they have so many organs? They're just balls with faces!"

Flynn had a sudden deep respect for butchers. Since living in the castle, meat was just something that appeared on his plate. He'd never put much consideration into the poor souls had to sort through internal organs to get it out. Just the smell made him want to throw up. He'd dealt with monsters and guts before - it was a side effect of being a solider - but he was used to encountering them in the heat of battle, not while he was calmly sitting next to them with his mind on dinner.

"What should I do!?"

She looked to him for guidance, but Flynn was still caught up in the horror of discovering what Cluckits looked like on the inside. "Why are you asking me!?"

"You're the commandant!"

Oh, right, it was his job to tell Sodia what to do. Still - "That doesn't make me a butcher!"

"Ok, ok…" she tried to calm down. "I think I see meat underneath all… this." She carefully moved in with her knife, her nose wrinkled and looking with her face turned away as much as she could while still looking. "If I cut the organs out, I should probably be able to - ah!"

"What was that?" He heard something liquid.

"I - I think I accidentally cut the bladder."

Liquid ran down the side of the trunk. Flynn's stomach heaved and his ribs clenched with pain. "Uh… I - I'm making an executive decision to abandon this plan. Let's eat drumsticks."

"That sounds like a good idea, sir," Sodia said weakly.

Meat from the legs proved to be significantly easier to obtain. In what seemed like no time, Sodia had dragged the nightmare-inducing corpse far away from their fire and tied the Cluckit's two massive thighs to sticks to roast over the fire. The pair of them sat silently, watching the meat cook.

"So…" Flynn said after a while, "a couple nobles have invited me to go on hunting trips. I'm starting think I made a good decision in passing."

"I just don't understand why it had so many organs," Sodia said distantly, staring into the fire like some shell-shocked veteran recalling the horrors of war. "All they do is hop around and eat things. Why does it _need_ that many parts?"

"I'm certainly never going to look at a Cluckit the same way again."

"I propose a new tax break for butchers on the grounds that they face inhuman brutality and horror for the benefit of others."

"They should get a medal."

When the drumsticks were done cooking, Sodia handed one to Flynn. "Here you go, sir. The fruit of our labour."

"I don't know if you should sound so proud about this." He took a bite. It was bland and a bit overcooked, but alright. "I nearly got killed by it and then we both nearly lost our lunches trying to get meat from it."

"That may be, sir, but at the end of the day, we are eating and it is dead, and that means we won." She plopped back down across the fire and tore into her own drumstick.

Flynn snickered. "True. And it's not like we didn't gain anything from this. Look on the bright side: we are now far more educated than we ever wanted to be on Cluckit anatomy."

"We also learned several ways _not_ to gut a Cluckit." Sodia joined him in snickering. After the stress of the last day and a half, they both needed a release.

Flynn swallowed heavily. The meat may not be the best, but it was was flavoured with victory. "So all in all, it could have gone a lot worse."

"Exactly." Sodia took another huge bite of hers, as if she was in an speed eating contest. "I also learned how to make the commandant scream like a little girl."

Flynn nearly choked on his drumstick as Sodia gasped, covering her mouth with one hand. "Oh gosh," she said with wide eyes. "Please forgive me, sir. I spoke without thinking."

Flynn shook his head, unable to speak through both laughing and trying to swallow. It wasn't that what she'd said was particularly funny, but that Sodia was the one who had said it. Hearing a simple jibe at his expense was so far from what he'd come to expect from her it had thrown him through a loop. When he finally forced the mouthful down, coughed slightly, took a drink Sodia's canteen, rubbed his eyes and then gasped for breath, he was able to say, "No, please, it's fine."

"It was an inappropriate remark to make to my superior officer."

Flynn gestured around the dark, silent trees that were their only company for hundreds of miles. "We're in the middle of nowhere, I'm on vacation, and I'm too sore to give much of a damn about anything. For all I care, you can just call me 'Flynn', if you want."

"I could never," she said quickly. "We may be far from society, but our ranks haven't changed."

Flynn had expected as much, but it was good to at least let her know that she could be casual if she wanted. It was important to maintain professionalism while on duty and especially around other knights they set examples for, but out here he didn't think it mattered. He was supposed to be on vacation, so as far as he was concerned, he was off-duty.

Half an hour later, Sodia had finished eating and got things set up for the night. She made Flynn promise to wake her up earlier than dawn so he could get some sleep as well, though he planned to stay up as late as possible. She needed sleep more than he did.

When Sodia was asleep, Flynn sat silently with his back against a tree, absently chewing on the last of his drumstick. He'd eaten more slowly, because he found he just wasn't that hungry. He knew he needed to eat to keep up his strength, though, so he forced himself to eat regardless.

He liked having something to chew on, at least. It served as a distraction from his leg. On the other hand, his leg was _so_ sore that it drowned out all his other injuries and made them seem mild in comparison. So, at least there was a silver lining to his situation. He just wished the thing being lined with silver could have been anything other than an agonizing and crippling injury.

The hours droned on, and Flynn leaned his head against the tree trunk and wished there were enough gaps in the trees to see the stars. The trunk was rough and dirty, but he still hadn't gotten all the dried mud out of his hair from yesterday so he wasn't too worried about that. All things considered, he felt pretty good. Sodia estimated they would rejoin the path in another day or two, and from there it would only be a few more days to Aurnion. Then he could taste the sweet relief of glorious lemon gels and he daydreamed about running around, dancing, skipping, jumping - all things he never put much thought into until his leg cracked. Yuri was in Aurnion right now, awaiting his arrival. They were scheduled to arrive the day after tomorrow, and he hoped Yuri didn't get too worried when he didn't show up.

A log fell into the fire, sending a shower of sparks into the air. Flynn jolted out of his daydreaming, realizing he'd been a very poor watchman. He glanced around the campsite and ensured nothing was wrong. He couldn't see any movement, but then he realized all the sounds of the forest had gone silent again. Dread trickled down his spine. His eyes darted around the trees, looking for - but desperately hoping they wouldn't find - a shadow.

He was so busy searching with his eyes that he almost didn't notice the scent creeping up on his nose. For a few seconds, he thought it was just the Cluckit starting to rot. Sodia had dragged it away from their campsite for this purpose, but it was possible the scent could still reach them. He brushed that thought aside, though, because even if he was no butcher, he knew what rotting animals smelled like and they did not smell like fresh blood.

That was the scent: blood. It seemed to get stronger once he identified it and his skin crawled. There was no good reason a forest should smell like blood when he hadn't heard any indication that something nearby had just been killed. The scent overpowered even the composting leaves and smoke from their fire, and the shadows lurking between every tree seemed to grow darker.

He swallowed heavily as the feeling of being watched settled over him. He felt exposed as invisible eyes bore into him, and with that feeling came judgement. Why was he feeling judgemental? With a jolt, he realized that he wasn't. Something _else_ was feeling judgemental, and feeling it so powerfully it reached Flynn. His insides squirmed with unplaceable guilt, like a dog caught next to a stain on the carpet. His eyes went to the bones of his meal and the stains on the stump and the sudden urge to hide the evidence raced through him.

"S…Sodia," he croaked, his voice taut with fear. Fear of what? Of a scary smell and paranoia? His call hadn't woken her, and he decided not to try again. She had to hike all day tomorrow and she needed her rest. He wouldn't wake her unless he saw a tangible danger.

Tangible or not, he couldn't shake the guilt that sat like a rock in his stomach. They had ripped apart that Cluckit, spilled its guts and desecrated its corpse, and then cast it aside to rot while only eating meat from the limbs. That was _wrong_. That was _barbaric_. Most terrifyingly of all, Flynn couldn't even place where he'd gotten these ideas from.

All his logical reasoning from the daytime went up in smoke. He didn't know what and he didn't know precisely where, but there was _something_ in the woods with them, and it didn't like them.


	4. Complications

**Chapter Four: Complications**

Flynn woke Sodia up a couple of hours before dawn. He had dragged himself all the way around the fire to shake her shoulder and whispered, "Sodia… Sodia, wake up."

She blinked a couple of times and then remembered where she was and sat up. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Is it my turn al-"

"Sh!"

She dropped her arms and looked to him with concern. It was still dark, but in the low light of the flickering fire she saw fear etched on his face, heightened by the eerie shadows cast by the firelight. "Sir?" she whispered.

"Everything is fine for now," he whispered back. "I'm about to pass out so you need to take watch."

She nodded curtly. "Of course, sir."

"Just… be careful. There's something in the trees." He glanced around nervously, but didn't specify any further.

"Something? Like what?"

He turned back to her. "I'm not sure. The same thing I saw last night, I think. I smelled blood."

Sodia sniffed the air. Smoke, wood, decaying leaves, a rotting Cluckit just out of sight, pine needles… no blood. "I don't smell anything, sir."

Flynn frowned. "Well, it's gone now. I don't feel it around anymore, but stay on your toes. If the forest goes silent, wake me up."

Sodia had to wonder if Flynn had accidentally fallen asleep and had a vivid dream. His eyes frightened her, not because she was afraid of this mysterious blood odour but because Flynn Scifo was not supposed to be scared like this. The only time she had ever seen him like this was when Yuri went missing right after Zaude (and she felt a familiar stab of guilt as she thought about this). That had been different, though. That had been fear for another person's wellbeing, which was noble even if she didn't think Yuri was worth the effort. Now, though, he seemed afraid for his own life, spooked by some shadows in the trees. Seeing him like this disturbed her. "Alright, sir. Just go to sleep and I'll keep watch. Do you need help getting back to the stretcher?" She didn't want him to sleep on the cold ground when there was a blanket right there.

Flynn scowled and then nodded. "If you could."

She dragged him around the low-burning fire and to the stretcher. He winced a few times as the movement jarred his leg, but didn't mention it. "Go to sleep," she said.

"Yeah… goodnight. Stay alert."

Flynn got settled and Sodia crawled back to her side of the fire. She sat awake, watching Flynn try to sleep. There was just something… _wrong_ with seeing him like this. Flynn wasn't supposed to get scared like this, and he wasn't supposed to be crippled like this. It was like seeing the strings of a puppet, and she didn't much like it.

* * *

The sun was high and Sodia's arms were sore. She'd dragged Flynn all morning and her muscles ached from continued use. Blisters built up on her palms and fingers where the rough poles of the stretcher rubbed against her hands. They were still following the creek, and Sodia told herself it couldn't be much longer until they got to the path.

"Sodia."

She almost jumped; she hadn't realized he was awake. "Do you need something, sir?"

"What did you do in the forest when you were a kid?"

That hadn't been what she'd expected. "Why do you ask?"

Flynn squirmed on the stretcher, trying to find a comfortable position. "Because my leg is pounding, it's driving me crazy, and I'd like to focus on something else."

"Well… there isn't much to tell, sir. We played knights with sticks, built castles out of fallen trees, played hide and seek… things like that." Memories flashed through her head: scraped knees, trees that seemed so much taller than they were now, balancing on a stone wall surrounded by trees that had once been the edge of a field. "It was an easy childhood. I'm not ignorant - I know I was able to have such a carefree childhood only because of my father's position and our wealth."

"That's not completely true," Flynn said. "Kids don't really understand things the way adults do. It's true our childhood was tough, but it's not as if we never had fun. We didn't really understand the consequences. We knew life was hard, but we didn't know any other way so we found fun where we could."

Sodia couldn't help noticing the way Flynn spoke of his childhood with 'we' instead of 'I'. She was pretty sure Flynn was an only child, so there was little question who the other person in his memories were. It bothered her to think that someone like Yuri Lowell was so much closer to Flynn, had shared so much more with him, when he was so undeserving of Flynn's friendship. How different things might have been if Flynn had lived in her village instead of Zaphias.

"The whole lower quarter was our territory," Flynn said idly. "We got into so much trouble."

Sodia snorted. "I can guess who the instigator of most of that trouble was." Nice to know Yuri Lowell had been leading Flynn astray for their entire lives and it wasn't just a recent development.

Flynn laughed. "Not as much as you might think, actually! We were awful children. Completely unregulated by parental authority and constantly egging each other on, trying to outdo each other. Whenever one of us did get caught - usually by Hanks - we shared the punishment because no one knew which of us was the mastermind. Heaven knows we'd never rat each other out - we may have been viciously competitive with each other, but against an outside threat we were thick as thieves."

"I find that difficult to believe, sir." Flynn was always apologizing for Yuri's actions. She had a sneaking suspicion Yuri had been the ringleader of all the trouble they might have gotten into, and Flynn was lying - possibly even to himself - about his involvement.

"It's true! If you want to know whose idea it was to sneak into a theatre in the public quarter, which led to a couple of eight year old kids snickering in the balcony and throwing peanut shells at the actors…"

Sodia looked back at him. "No."

"Yuri thought it would be boring, but I talked him into it. We got caught and chased out. I'm pretty sure my ban on entering the theatre still stands."

She paused in their hike and gaped at him. She could not imagine her commandant as a scrappy kid throwing peanut shells at actors. To be honest, she couldn't imagine her commandant as a scrappy kid at all. Flynn seemed to have emerged fully-formed into the world. He was a constant force, as integral to the Imperial Knights as the law itself. Hearing about him as a child was like seeing the sloppy rough draft of a masterpiece.

"Now, yes, I definitely matured faster than Yuri did."

"You matured at all," Sodia muttered.

Flynn laughed again, which always managed to catch Sodia off-guard. She'd heard him laugh before, of course, but this was different. It wasn't a professional chuckle, but an honest, causal laugh like you might hear among friends. She wondered if Flynn's casual attitude was a result of being on vacation, being injured, or a combination of both.

"Well, yes," Flynn said with a smile. "Once we were teenagers, I spent a lot more time trying to rein him in. Our personalities really began to differ and we argued over almost everything. I think it was good, though. It's good to have someone you can argue with to help you see your actions and views in a different light. Makes things clearer. I count myself as lucky that I had someone I could argue endlessly with while never worrying what it would mean for our friendship."

"That sounds… nice, I suppose." She didn't know what she was supposed to think about this. Hearing about the commandant's childhood was more information than she ever wanted. She didn't want to think about Flynn before he was, well, _Flynn_, but he said he wanted to talk to help with his leg so she couldn't just shut him down. With a sigh, she walked onward and tried to salvage her tattered perspective of the ideal commandant.

Flynn chattered for the next couple of hours, rambling between topics to keep himself occupied. Every time they crossed a rough patch of terrain or hit a bump, he stopped to grunt and when she spared a look at him his face was twisted in pain. He always masked it as soon as he noticed her looking, but it was clear he was in a significant amount of pain today. She wondered if there was a problem, because logically the pain level should decrease with time, but he seemed worse today than he had yesterday. She wished she knew more about medicine so she could be more useful to him.

Sodia let him talk, interrupting only occasionally to add a comment, until she stopped walking. She'd been hearing a rush for a while now, but assumed it was the rustling of the trees. She couldn't ignore it any longer, though: that was water. With dread sinking in her chest, Sodia dragged Flynn a littler further until the trees parted and they hit the end of the ground. Her heart sank as she watched the creek cascade over the side in a twenty-foot waterfall.

"What is it?" Flynn asked, squirming around to try to see what was going on in front. "That sounds like a waterfall."

"It is a waterfall." She set the stretcher on the ground to giver her arms a rest and stepped aside so Flynn could prop himself up and see where they were. She stared at the pool of water below, trying to figure out what to do. The edge of the cliff was steep. It might be possible to climb down the boulders on her own, but there was no way Flynn would be able to get down. In the distance, the raised cliff path they'd been following a couple of days ago descended into the forest near the creek. She bit her lip; that was where they needed to be.

"You could go," Flynn said quietly. "You could cross the valley and reach the path by tomorrow."

"I can't get you down this cliff any more than I could get you up the first one."

"But if you left me here…"

She looked down at him sharply. "Absolutely not, sir."

Flynn glared at his clenched fist. "I don't want to keep holding you back. I'm the reason you're still in this forest. You should go to Aurnion, get help, and then come back for me."

Sodia shook her head. "I won't leave you, sir." She knew Flynn was touchy about the subject so she didn't mention it, but he'd nearly been eaten by a Cluckit yesterday. He wouldn't survive in this forest on his own.

"I could make it a direct order."

"Sir, you are on vacation. I am under no requirement to follow orders from you when you're off-duty." Not that she would have followed such an order even if he was on-duty. Sodia believed in following the law, respecting authority, and being a model knight, but if those things led to innocent people getting killed, she would drop them in a heart beat. Knights who never thought for themselves and mindlessly followed every order they were given were the reason the upper-ranks and the nobility were allowed to become so corrupt.

"Well, what do you think we should do?" Flynn said angrily. "I'm not getting down this cliff."

Sodia told herself not to get irritated with him for his snippy tone. He was under a lot of stress and no doubt trying his hardest to remain calm. "We'll find another way. The cliff will probably gradually lower into the woods like the path does on the other side of the valley. We'll just follow it until we find a way down and then head back to the creek to guide us to the path."

"That might take a long time."

"We don't have any other choice."

"Well…"

She glared at him. "I don't consider leaving you behind to be a choice, sir."

He sighed and fell back on the stretched, staring at the sky. "What in world did I do to deserve a subordinate as loyal as you?"

Sodia smiled at him and said, "It certainly wasn't a talent for self-preservation, sir."

Flynn laughed while Sodia picked up the stretcher again. "Hey, I'm not that bad."

"Whatever you say, sir."

After a couple of hours of walking the cliff finally levelled out to a shallow enough slope that Sodia could manoeuvre Flynn downward. Once they ground levelled out, they headed back in the direction of the creek. Flynn spent the entire afternoon chatting with Sodia. He did most of the talking, since she was tired and using all her energy walking while Flynn lay motionlessly behind her.

Sometimes he told her stories about escapades he and Yuri got into as kids, or talked about a book he'd read or even gossip around the Knights. It turned out that Flynn was woefully uninformed about knight gossip. That was proper, of course. He was the commandant; he didn't have time to worry about which lieutenants were secretly dating. Flynn was so dedicated to career that taking time to socialize beyond work was something he didn't have time for, and that was why he had risen through the ranks so fast. It was also probably why he and Sodia had worked side-by-side for years yet still knew barely anything about each other's personal lives.

By the time the sun set, they hadn't hit the creek again. Sodia wasn't too concerned; they'd had to go far out of their way to get down the cliff, so she'd expected it to be a long walk to circle around back to the creek. She found a clear area and set Flynn down before collapsing to the ground herself. She was so tired she wanted to sleep for a week and her palms were covered in blisters that made dragging Flynn painful.

For a few brief seconds she thought about how nice it would be to do as Flynn asked and just walk out of here on her own, but she pushed those thoughts aside. She wouldn't leave him here, even if he told her to. She trusted him and looked up to him, but that didn't mean he was always right. It was her duty as a loyal subordinate to protect him from his own foolhardiness. He was such a good knight, but he spent so much time looking after others than he didn't pay as much attention to himself. This led to him selflessly telling her to abandon him here, or not looking closely at his relationship with Yuri and how that damaged him.

Sodia frowned. Whenever she thought too much about Yuri and what she'd done to protect Flynn, her insides squirmed. She was so ashamed of what she'd done. Maybe Yuri did deserve death, but it was not her place as a lone knight to hand it out. And when she really thought about it, she hardly thought his crimes deserved death. He ought to be in jail, but execution was too extreme.

She'd just been so desperate to get him away from Flynn. The scorched hole in Flynn's shoulder had still been fresh in her mind when she took the second elevator to run up and see if she could help. Then she'd seen Yuri, standing alone one the other side of the rubble, and she realized it was her only chance. There wasn't time to think it over, but all it would take was a little push and Yuri Lowell would vanish from Flynn's side. It would hurt, but it was like cutting off an infected limb. Flynn was so attached to him and couldn't see that his very presence was contaminating him and threatening everything that he stood for.

She'd been reckless. After Yuri Lowell apparently died, Flynn had been devastated. Watching him struggle through every day, desperately hoping his friend would be found alive, had nearly killed her. It wasn't fair for her to make that decision for him. Yuri needed to be eliminated form his life, but the way she'd done it, his death still hung over Flynn and dragged him down. Flynn needed to come to the realization himself that Yuri was a poor influence and create a clean break. Only then could he truly move forward, and her reckless act had nearly made everything worse.

"Are you alright, Sodia?" Flynn asked.

"I'm fine, sir. Just resting." There he went, worrying about her own health again. The man was in terrible pain and still worried about others before himself. There were reasons Sodia dedicated herself to following him. She took a long breath and then pushed herself upright before he could worry about her more. She looked over at Flynn, who lay with his eyes tightly closed. He'd just spoken so he obviously wasn't asleep, and he took deep breaths though his nose. "Is everything alright with you, sir?"

"It's nothing you can do anything about." He opened his eyes and tried to smile reassuringly. "My leg is really hurting me, and the cut on my hip is acting up."

"I understand, sir." If only there was anything else she could do to help him. "Have you taken more apple gel?"

Flynn shook his head. "I haven't had any today."

Her eyes widened. "No wonder you're in so much pain!" She pulled his canteen out of her pack and scrambled across the dirt in her rush to get it to him. "I'm sorry, sir, I thought you took some this morning."

"No." He waved his hand. "I don't want it."

"What are you talking about? You're in so much pain; drink an apple gel."

"But… my leg." He turned his eyes on it with a grimace. "Sodia, it's crooked. Every time I eat an apple gel, the bone heals in this position. I'm…" the tautness of his face said the word he was looking for was 'afraid', but he didn't say that. "Concerned. If my leg heals in this position, I may never walk properly again." His face darkened and he struggled to remain calm as he explained his fear. "If I can't walk, I can't be the commandant. If I'm crippled, I'll be forced to retire."

Sodia swallowed hard. This hadn't occurred to her, but now that he mentioned it, she felt foolish for not thinking about it. Flynn… retired? But he still had so much work to do! "That's not necessarily true, sir. You could still be the commandant, you just wouldn't be able to participate in field work."

Flynn forced a hollow laugh. "Yes, can you imagine? Inspecting the troops while hobbling along with a cane?" He shook his head. "I can't be a proper knight with a crooked leg. I can't accelerate its healing in the wrong direction, because that will just make it harder to fix when I finally get to a doctor. I can live with this pain for now - it's not unbearable. I just need to hold out until I get to a doctor who can straighten it."

Sodia stared at him, struck for the thousandth time how dedicated he was to his goal. He was willing to put himself through severe pain just to make sure he could be the best knight he possibly could be. "I understand, sir. I'll get you to a doctor as fast as I possibly can."

"Thank you, Sodia," he said with an honest smile.

"I'll start a fire and then get dinner ready. She glanced to her bag and frowned. "Honestly… we're running low on rations. We were supposed to arrive in Aurnion tomorrow. We packed extra just in case, but in a couple of days, we're going to run out of food. I think we should try hunting for monsters more."

"No!" Flynn said quickly, sitting up so fast it hurt him.

Sodia blinked, taken aback by his sudden fervour.

"I mean… no," he said, forcing himself to calm down. "I don't think we should, not unless we know what we're doing."

"Why not, sir?"

Flynn looked away and mumbled so she could hardly hear him. "It doesn't like it."

"It? What? I don't understand what you mean, sir."

"The… the thing I saw. Felt, rather. It doesn't like it when we kill monsters and cut them up."

Sodia frowned. "Sir, I haven't found any evidence that such a thing even exists." She phrased the next part carefully, because she didn't want it to sound like she was second-guessing him. "I think it would be unwise to forgo hunting for food in fear of a monster that may not even exist."

Flynn frowned. "I… yes. I suppose you're right. Let's not tonight, though. We still have supplies so there's no need to hunt tonight."

"Alright, that's fine. You rest and I'll get camp set up." She knew it bothered him to not be able to help, and she wished there was some way to make it clear to him just how little she minded doing all the work. She didn't hold it against him at all, but if Flynn wasn't itching to help other people, he simply wasn't Flynn.

* * *

Flynn sat awake until he nearly passed out, waiting for the shadowy presence to arrive. It never did. When he was about to fall asleep and awoke Sodia to take her shift, he accepted that it wasn't going to visit them that night. Perhaps Sodia was right and it had never been there in the first place. He didn't have any way to be sure, so he forced himself to fall into an uneasy sleep.

When Flynn woke up, they were moving again. The sky slid past, interrupted by dense branches. By how high and bright the sun was, it must be at least noon. "How long was I asleep?" he croaked, and then coughed.

"Oh, you're awake!" Sodia rested the stretcher against a boulder to give her arms a rest. She pulled out her canteen and passed it to him. "Here, you must be thirsty."

He took a long gulp of water and then handed it back. "Thanks. What time is it?"

"Past noon, sir. I was going to stop for lunch soon. You didn't wake up this morning as I was getting breakfast together, so I thought I'd let you sleep."

She sounded uncertain, so he nodded to assure her she hadn't done anything wrong. "That's fine." He rubbed his eyes and yawned. "I'm… _really_ tired today, wow."

"Are you feeling alright, sir?"

"Yeah. Just kind of groggy. Guess I didn't sleep well." He should have slept great, considering he hadn't been visited by that disturbing presence, but now his muscles felt achy and he wanted to sleep for the rest of the day. He just felt generically crummy, but couldn't put his finger on an exact problem.

"I'll stop for lunch now and then keep moving. When you get hungry, let me know and we'll stop."

"Ok. Thanks."

They had established a pattern the day before, which continued through this afternoon. Flynn didn't want to sleep all day, so he kept himself awake and distracted by talking. He was running out of stories about his and Yuri's escapades as children, so he rambled into tales from the lower quarter in general. If Sodia minded being regaled with stories about the day a swarm of chickens escaped the butcher and had to chase them through the neighbourhood, she didn't say so. Flynn told himself it was because he was a very good story-teller, and because any story that ended with Yuri collapsed in the fountain, covered in feathers and chicken poop but holding a struggling bird aloft like a trophy, was a good one.

Speaking of the fountain led him to another topic. "We all banded together to fix it, you know," he said as the day wore on. He had nearly emptied Sodia's canteen, because talking so much dried his throat and he half-hoped hydrating himself would be the answer to how awful he felt. "Without the fountain, we didn't have access to clean drinking water so it was really important t fix the aque blastia."

"Didn't that happen after you left?" Sodia asked.

"Yes," he nodded, "but even if I don't live there anymore, the lower quarter is still my home. When you don't have much, the people become very close. They took care of me when I was an orphan, so I can't forget about them now that I'm somebody. I donated as much money as they would let me to the fountain fund." He would have paid for it all if the rest of them didn't insist on contributing themselves, saying they didn't want to feel indebted to him. It was just as well, because at the time he'd only been a lieutenant and his salary wasn't nearly enough to pay for the whole fountain. "As it was, I gave them practically my entire salary for a couple of weeks."

"For weeks? What in the world did you live off during that time?"

"It wasn't so bad," Flynn said with a light smile. "I lived in the castle so housing and food was taken care of. The trouble is that just after I made the first donation, my only good pair of boots finally gave out. I had to borrow a pair from a friend, but his feet were significantly bigger than mine."

"I remember that!" She glanced over her shoulder. "Is that what that was about? You told me you were wearing extra-large shoes as an experimental training method."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that…" He laughed nervously. "Sorry I lied to you. I guess I was a bit embarrassed. I know it's rather foolish to just give away your entire paycheck."

Sodia snorted and shook her head. "Honestly, that's just like you, sir. Giving all your money to your old neighbourhood was very selfless of you… if a little foolish."

"I think that could describe a lot of my actions," he admitted.

Sodia hesitated, and then said, "Well… yes, sir. But that just means you are a knight truly dedicated to-"

"Sodia, please stop."

She faltered. "Pardon?"

He sighed and rubbed his forehead with his palm. "I'm sorry. I'm just… I feel awful right now and I don't want to think about work. I'm starting to get a headache and I just want to relax as much as I can. Can you please not treat me like the commandant for now?

"Ah… if you say so, sir. How would you like me to do that?"

"I don't know, just… just talk to me like I'm a normal guy." He tried to find a non-offensive way to phrase 'please stop kissing my ass; I'm too tired to be professional' but gave up.

"But… sir, you're the commandant even if you're on vacation. You are not a 'normal guy'."

"I really am, you know. And right now, I can't think of a single body part that doesn't hurt or ache somehow, and I just want to have a conversation without tripping over ranks and being proper. I already know you respect me; you could tell me I'm a moron and I wouldn't be offended."

Sodia was quiet for a few seconds, deep in thought. "I'll try, sir."

"Good." He smiled, even though Sodia couldn't see it. "So, what was I saying about the fountain?"

"You were telling me that you threw all your money at it to the point of not being able to buy new shoes. Am I to assume this desire to give everything to the lower quarter was inspired by Yuri Lowell?"

"Actually, no." He leapt at the chance to defend Yuri from her. "In fact, when Yuri found out, he yelled at me and called me an idiot. He didn't like the idea of me swooping in with my 'imperial gald stolen from taxpayers' to fix their problems. He told me not to sabotage myself, and to let him worry about the lower quarter while I took care of furthering my career in the Knights. Then he challenged me to a sword fight with my too-large boots to prove a point. I ended up winning, which irritated him more than he would admit, but it was a close call. I guess he had a point; if an emergency had happened, I wasn't equipped to fight."

Sodia was quiet for a little while, and then all she said was, "Oh."

"Maybe the promise that he'd take care of the fountain if I took care of myself was part of what drove him so relentlessly to reclaim the aque blastia after it was stolen."

"That's possible." Sodia clearly didn't want to talk about Yuri anymore, so she directed the topic to identifying the berries on the bush they passed and explaining that they were toxic. She knew this because when she was eight she'd eaten a handful of them when her older brother dared her to and spent the rest of the day vomiting. Flynn made a silent note to avoid those berries.

It was a pleasant enough afternoon until the sun began to sink and Sodia stopped.

"Is something wrong?" Flynn asked.

She let out a tense breath. "It's just… I think we should have reached the creek again by now."

A tense silence. Then: "Oh dear."

"It didn't take more than a day to walk away from the creek to where we made it down, but it's been a day and a half now and we still haven't found it."

Flynn creased his brow. "You're saying we're lost." He forced himself to remain calm. Panicking would do them no good.

"I… I think we are," she said in a small voice. "We should have reached the creek hours ago, but I can't even hear it in the distance. Oh… oh shit." She winced and glanced apologetically to Flynn, who didn't even comment on her swearing.

Flynn took a long breath, thinking this over. Lost. It was a chilling prospect when they were in the middle of woods, over a hundred miles from civilization, and one of them was in urgent need of medical care. "Let's not be hasty. Tomorrow when it's light, you can climb a tree and try to get our bearings. The cliff should still be in view, so orient ourselves parallel to that and if we go straight we'll hit the creek"

Sodia bobbed her head. "Right. Good thinking, sir. We'll be alright."

"Exactly. So let's set up camp and take this one step at a time until we get to Aurnion."

Sodia nodded again and busied herself gathering wood for a fire. Flynn sighed and stared up at the rustling leaves, trying not to show how nervous he was. Sodia was clearly on the edge of panic, so he had to hold it together for her sake. As he lay there, sore, generically unwell, and worried that by the time they got to a doctor it would be too late to save his leg, he distracted himself by thinking about Yuri.

They were supposed to have arrived in Aurnion this afternoon, but by the looks of things it would take at least a week to get there now. Was Yuri worried about him? Yuri probably wouldn't get worried yet, but after a couple of days, the uncertainty would grow. He hated to think he was making his friend anxious, but there wasn't anything he could do about that.

* * *

Mimula Cumore strode down the corridor, not sparing a glance at the servants who curtsied as she passed. Simon hadn't met her in the foyer like a decent host, so she had to trek through his house unattended. What a terrible host. It was no wonder she didn't visit often. She didn't bother knocking when she reached his study.

Simon looked up from a book and closed it on his finger. He sat in a winged armchair by the empty fireplace and rested his feet on an ottoman. "Rather rude to burst in, Mimi," he drawled.

"Even ruder not to get up and meet your guests," she said, closing the door and then crossing her arms. "And don't call me that."

"Ah, but you're no guest - you're family." He set the book on an end table and gestured for the armchair across from his. "Sit down and tell me what you want from me."

She glared at him the entire way across the room to the chair. "You're so sure I want something?"

"When has my little sister _ever_ visited me without asking for a favour?"

It was a fair point. She sat in the chair and folded her hands on her lap. "Very well, so you're right."

"What is it this time? Do you need my lawyers to get you out of trouble again?" He shook his head and with a smirk. "I still don't know what you were thinking. Trying to blow up the capital? You always did throw temper tantrums when you didn't get your way, but I never thought-"

"Oh, shut up!" She leaned forward a little. "Those fools in the capital dared to revoke our family title. They deserved punishment! I was trying to restore our family honour, while you stayed up here hiding in your little mountain retreat."

"Yes, which is why one of us spent the past six months in a smelly jail cell and the other spent it sipping wine in a luxurious hunting lodge."

Mimula wrinkled her nose. Simon was so pleased with his little lodge, but she didn't see what was so luxurious about sitting in a room filled with dead animals. An eggbear's head frozen mid-snarl glared at her from a plaque above the mantel. At least Alexander had had decent interior design tastes. "Don't you even care that our family was dishonoured?"

"My independent investments weren't tied to any title, so it doesn't make a huge difference to me. Lord Cumore or Mister, I'm still rich."

She bristled with anger at his apathy. "And what about Alex?!"

"I always warned him that one day he was going to irritate someone who couldn't be fought with gald. He was never very good at hiding the fact that he was a snotty brat."

"He was our _brother_!" Ugh, why had she come to Simon in the first place? He always acted like he was so above her and Alexander, and he'd been a self-centred jerk since they were children. "Do you not care at all?"

"Hm…" he drummed his fingers on the armrest of his chair. "I admit I miss having little Alex around to tease, and the fact that no one was ever prosecuted for his murder is annoying."

"Yes, exactly!" She latched onto that smidgen of emotion he bothered showing. "But we _do_ know who did it."

"You still believe it's the commandant?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense. I tried to get charges pressed but no one in the Knights will listen to me. I had to take matters into my own hands."

Simon raised an eyebrow. "You did something stupid, didn't you?"

"No!" she said indignantly. "I decided to get rid of him. I lured him to a secluded location in Egothor Forest and sent a pair of assassins to finish him off. The plan was that they would ambush him, kill him, and bury his body in the woods so it would never be found. With no body, they have no murder so they can't trace it back to me. It was foolproof!"

Simon sighed and rested his chin in his hand. "Yes, except if it was foolproof, you wouldn't be here begging me to help you with something. So, what went wrong?"

She scowled at him, but since her plan _had_ gone wrong, she couldn't get mad at him. "My assassins were supposed to send word to me as soon as the job was done. I haven't heard from them in a couple of days, though. I think something went wrong."

"Clearly. Most likely, your two assassins weren't enough to take out one of the strongest knights in the empire. Did you think this through at all? You can't underestimate your enemy just because it makes you mad to think of him as actually being talented."

She glared at him again. Every time she talked to him she remembered why she avoided doing so. "The only positive is that I haven't heard any word from him, either. If the commandant reported an assassination attempt, it would be all over Zaphias and they likely would have called me in for questioning by now. I don't think he's left the forest, either."

Simon nodded slowly. "Injured in the attack, possibly. It could slow him down."

"So there's still a chance to finish him off before he gets back to civilization to report the crime. He's most likely either somewhere in the forest or on the road to Aurnion. That's where I need your help."

"I see. You want me to hunt him down and stop him from rightfully accusing you of trying to assassinate him."

"Yes." She glanced around the study, trying to keep the disgust off her face. The eggbear above the mantel was far from the only stuffed head in the room. "I don't trust more random assassins, but I know you can finish the job. You've never failed a hunt in your life."

He smirked and glanced triumphantly at his trophies. "That is true." With his eyes back on her, he said, "However, I don't know if I want to hunt him if he's injured."

"What? Why not?! That would make your job easier."

"Precisely. Hunting a crippled animal is dishonourable. There's no sport in chasing something that can't run."

Mimula held in another frustrated shout. "It might not be him that's injured. He went with that woman that's always following him around. You know, the noble girl who was in Alex's brigade before shaming her family and running off with a squad of commoners?"

Simon stared at her blankly. Mimula sighed; she should have known better than to think her holier-than-thou brother would keep up with noble gossip. "Anyway, she was with him. If she was injured, I'm certain that goody-two-shoes would delay his own arrival to take care of her. It's more likely that she's the one injured, too, since he's a stronger fighter."

"Hm…" Simon stroked his chin.

"Please, Simon," Mimula didn't want to beg, but she also didn't want to go to prison again, which was sure to happen if Flynn reported the assassination attempt. "It would be fun. You're always complaining that hunting monsters isn't a challenge for you. What more challenging prey could there be than the commandant?"

Simon sighed and lowered his hands to his lap. "Alright, you've piqued my interest. I'll depart tomorrow."

She sighed in relief. "Thank you so much, Simon. Make sure you get to him before he gets to Aurnion. I can't have him reporting the attempt."

Simon smiled. "Don't worry, Mimi, I've never failed to catch my prey before. I'll make sure he doesn't get out of that forest alive."


	5. Questioning Memory

**Chapter Five: Questioning Memory**

"Can I have a sip of your beer?" Karol asked.

Yuri didn't even look at him. "No."

"Aw, come on! I just want to see what it tastes like."

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because you're twelve."

"Hey!" Karol crossed his arms indignantly. "I'm thirteen now."

Yuri paused, and then tore his eyes from the wall to look at Karol across from him. "Oh. That's right, sorry." Of course Karol was thirteen. His birthday had been only a month ago, and Yuri had even gotten him a book about fighting styles as a present.

"So, can I try some?"

Yuri shook his head. "No can do, Captain. Thirteen still isn't old enough for beer."

Karol turned to the other denizen of the table and said, "Judith, you'll back me up, won't you?"

Judy smiled sweetly at him. "We would hardly be responsible guild members if we allowed underage drinking to go on right under our noses."

Karol crossed his arms and glared at his glass of chocolate milk. "You guys suck."

Repede growled, telling Karol that he wasn't missing much and beer wasn't that great anyway. Karol didn't understand him and Yuri was too distracted to bother translating, so his alcohol expertise went unappreciated.

"What's wrong, Yuri?" Judy asked. "You seem distracted."

Yuri shook his head. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it." He took a drink and tried to act casual. They were in Aurnion's only eating establishment, which was a cozy enough place. Thanks to Aurnion's unique history, it was one of the few restaurants in the world where both guild members and knights could eat in peace.

"He's probably worrying about Flynn," Karol said.

Yuri glared at him to silently tell him not to go into it, but Karol was feeling vindictive so he smirked and said, "You can always tell when he's worrying about Flynn. It's one of the few times he gets all sulky."

Yuri straightened up and frowned. "I don't sulk."

Karol grinned. "Call it what you want, Yuri."

"Karol has a point," Judith said, nodding. "There are only a few topics that get you so distracted and worried, and one of them is Flynn."

"Hmph." He chugged the last of his drink and then wiped his mouth. "I'm not going to sit here and be analyzed. I'm going to get another drink, which I can do, because I'm an adult." He grinned at Karol, who made a face at him. Five minutes later, Yuri walked back to the table with a fresh beer in hand. He was slightly annoyed to hear that Judy and Karol were still talking about him.

"…have to force it out of him," Judith was saying. "You know how he is. Oh, hi, Yuri." She looked up with a smile, and not an ounce of guilt at being caught talking about him behind his back.

"Hey." He slouched back into his chair. "Ok, so what are you guys saying about me now?"

Judy folded her hands on the table. "That you're clearly worried about Flynn and it's not helping anyone to not say anything about it."

Yuri sighed and leaned back in his chair. "What's telling you guys going to do to help? I'm just wondering what held him up, that's all." Flynn was supposed to arrive two days ago, and Yuri knew he wouldn't be late for no reason. He was probably still sitting in his office in Zaphias, trying to finish "just one last thing" before heading out.

"Why don't we go to Zaphias and pick him up?" Karol said. "We'll give him a big surprise by barging into his office and forcing him to take a vacation!"

Yuri smiled. "Hey, that's a good idea."

"We have nowhere else to go," Judith pointed out. "We're on vacation, too."

"Hm… well, if you guys don't mind taking a quick trip to Zaphias, sure. We'll give him one more day to see if he shows up and then we can leave."

"Ok," Karol said. "I haven't been to Zaphias in ages. Since Estelle moved to Halure with Rita, there hasn't been a need to go."

"Indeed," Judy said with a nod. "It will be nice to visit."

Before their conversation could go any further, a waitress came by with their dinners. The plates clinked onto the table before them, and Yuri felt a satisfying grin emerge when Karol looked at his.

"Uh, excuse me, I ordered chicken strips," Karol said, staring at his plate.

"Yeah!" the waitress said with a bubbly smile. "But your older brother fixed it for you. He told me you wanted the kids' menu version. Enjoy!" She walked away, leaving Karol to glare at Yuri.

"Yuri! What did you do?"

Yuri put on innocent airs and said, "Whatever do you mean?"

Karol picked up a piece of chicken. "What is this?!"

Judith leaned forward to get a closer look. "Hm… looks like an eggbear."

Yuri laughed at Karol's displeasure. "What's wrong, Captain? It's still chicken."

"But why do they all have to be in the shape of monsters?" He set the eggbear-shaped chicken on his plate.

Judy smiled, munching on a piece of toasted garlic bread. "Aw, but it looks so fun. I wish my food was in the shape of monsters."

"Yeah, look how much more fun it is," Yuri said, reaching for the bottle of ketchup. He poured some on Karol's plate, grabbed a chicken bunwiggle and ripped its head off before smearing both ends in the ketchup. Then he grabbed the eggbear and said, "Raawr!" while smashing it against the bleeding bunwiggle.

Karol crossed his arms and watched Yuri without a hint of amusement. "Yeah, Yuri. Real mature."

Yuri left Karol's dinner alone and picked up a knife and fork to eat his own steak. Karol glared at him and started eating. Yuri didn't think it was that big a deal, since the chicken tasted exactly the same no matter what the shape. His mood was lightened now that they had a plan for Flynn, and the rest of dinner passed in good spirits. When their plates were cleared, Judith left to pay the bill.

"Food ok?" Yuri asked.

Karol glared at him. "It tasted alright. I didn't need it in the shape of monsters, though."

Yuri laughed, and then pushed his nearly empty bottle across the table. "Here, you can have a sip as long as you promise not to tell Estelle."

Karol's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

Karol glanced around as if expecting someone to swoop in and take the bottle away from him, and then carefully raised it to his lips. He took a quick sip, and then quickly slammed the bottle down. He erupted into coughing and stuck out his tongue while squeezing his eyes shut. "Ack! That's awful!"

Yuri chuckled and pulled his drink back. "Not a fan?"

Karol licked his lips and then took a long drink of chocolate milk. "How do you drink that stuff?"

Yuri shrugged. "It's an acquired taste."

"Ugh. One I'm not interested in acquiring."

"Fair enough. When we pick up Flynn tomorrow, don't tell him I gave a minor alcohol, ok?"

* * *

"It _was_ when I was eleven," Flynn insisted. "That was the year there was a massive snowfall in Zaphias. I remember."

"With all due respect, sir, that is factually wrong."

"What? No it isn't."

"It did not snow in Zaphias when you were eleven," Sodia said. "You must be misremembering which winter your story happened. Zaphias doesn't get heavy snow often, and I know there wasn't any that year."

"No, it had to be when I was twelve," Flynn said. Frankly, he wasn't used to Sodia arguing with him. Perhaps it was because they were both on edge. It had been two days since they had lost the creek, and they had to face the reality of their situation: lost. Sodia climbed a tree every morning and tried to reorient themselves, but with no trail marks through the dense wood they always ended up off-route again.

Flynn tried to ignore the growing fear of never finding their way out of the woods by rambling about his childhood again. He covered his mouth with his fist to cough, and then said, "Yuri and I built a snow fort and peppered the other kids with snowballs. Our rein of terror only ended when Billy Richards leapt from the roof above and destroyed our fort from within. It had to have been then, because Billy Richards move away that spring."

Sodia shook her head. "It can't be, sir. That was my first winter in Zaphias and I distinctly remember being disappointed that there was no snow when I was used to more in my hometown."

"But the year before that, my mother was still alive and I know she wouldn't have let us build that fort."

"I don't know what to tell you, sir, but there wasn't any snow that year. Remember, there was concern about soldiers returning from the Great War getting waylaid by snow but then it wasn't an issue when we didn't get any that year."

Flynn blinked, and then coughed again. He'd been coughing all day, which wouldn't be so bad if his ribs weren't bruised and made every cough painful. "…You're right." His brow crinkled. "But I distinctly remember Billy being the one to destroy our fort…"

"Maybe you're confusing him for someone else?"

Flynn stared at the ground dragging by, trying to relive the experience in his head. He and Yuri had crouched behind the wall of snow, snickering to themselves about their conquest of the street. Then, a body smashing into the ground behind them, a hand grabbing the back of Flynn's shirt and a handful of freezing snow shoved down his back. He fell to his side, scrambling to get the snow out before it froze, while Yuri leapt up to help him. In their distraction, the newcomer kicked their wall down from the inside and opened them up for assault from the rest of the kids on the street. They'd been peppered with snowballs before running away screaming with laughter. They ran to Hanks' house to hide until the rest of the kids got bored of vengeance, and sipped hot chocolate while congratulating each other on a successful - if brief - tyranny of snow.

The boy who jumped down, though, couldn't have been Billy Richards as Flynn had assumed for years. With the mental picture of Billy wiped away, Flynn tried to picture the face. Like he emerged from a fog, another boy took his place in Flynn's memory: Stephen Turner, another kid from the lower quarter who had been something of a rival to them for a few years in their early teens. It was unsettling to realize that his own memory had been factually incorrect for all these years. He'd been betrayed by his own mind.

"That's… strange," he said. "You always think you can trust your own head and memories, but I guess your mind isn't as reliable as you think it is."

He coughed again, and didn't stop for almost a minute. Sodia frowned at him. "Are you sure you're alright, sir?"

"Fine." He cleared his throat to try to get the last of the cough out of the way. "It's only a cough." It was also throbbing headache, sore muscles, and such tiredness it was all he could do to keep his eyes open.

"Yes, sir, and yesterday it was only a headache. I'm concerned you're becoming ill."

That was ridiculous. Flynn didn't get sick. He'd never taken a sick day in his life, and even if he did get a bad cold he bounced back from it within days. "Don't worry about it. Maybe I'm getting a cold. I did soak in a freezing creek a few days ago. Whatever it is, there's nothing we can do about it here so don't worry about me, ok?"

Sodia sighed. "I always worry about you, sir."

Flynn smiled and closed his eyes. "Thank you, Sodia. I don't know what I'd do without you." It was no question that he would be dead now if she hadn't offered to accompany him into the forest. He was so sleepy, but felt bad leaving her to hike without company all afternoon again. He was just going to rest his eyes for a minute or two…

Flynn ended up napping for the rest of the afternoon. He didn't wake up until they stopped for the night and he heard Sodia shuffling around getting dinner ready. As soon as he opened his eyes, he closed them again as a wave of pressure gripped his skull. "Ugh…"

"Oh, good, you're awake," Sodia said. "I'm almost done with dinner."

"I'm not hungry."

Sodia hesitated, and then said, "You skipped lunch as well, sir. I really think you should eat something."

Flynn sighed, which turned into a painful cough. "You're probably-" he had to finish coughing. "Probably right."

Sodia crawled across the camp to kneel next to him. Before Flynn could stay anything, she rested the back of her hand against his forehead with a frown.

"Sodia, what-"

"Your feel warm." She pulled her hand away. "You're definitely coming down with something."

"Dammit," Flynn grumbled. Why was he getting sick _now_? He had enough medical issues to worry about without catching the flu.

"I'm afraid we don't have soup or anything." Sodia glanced at the boiling water over the fire and bit her lip. "Actually, tonight we're eating the last of our food supplies. As of tomorrow, we're going to have to start foraging."

She said 'we', but of course it would be just her. He was useless again. He wasn't sure if he was comfortable hunting monsters after his experience the night after they tried to gut the Cluckit, but they had run out of food and they didn't have any other choice. Sodia was the one doing all the work, and he would feel awful lying on his back doing nothing while ordering her to make her job more difficult.

"We are also down to our last barrier, but we should save it for an emergency. I don't think we'll be able to leave the campfire burning overnight anymore, or it will attract monsters."

"Right. To be honest, I don't know if I'll be much use keeping watch overnight. I'm exhausted already and I slept all day, and you can hardly stay up when you need to walk the next day."

Sodia nodded. "I expected as much, sir. There's nothing we can do about that. You can't risk worsening your condition by depriving yourself of sleep."

"Yeah." As irritating as it was to be sick, he couldn't force himself to get better before his body was ready or he'd just end up worse off.

Sodia returned with water and the last of their tough, dried meat and stale biscuits. "Here, sir. I know it might be hard to get down while sick, but it's all we have and you need to keep your strength up."

"I understand. Thank you."

Choking down dinner took great effort, and Flynn felt awful for wasting the last of their food when he couldn't even appreciate it. By the time he ate and drained the rest of his canteen - Sodia had added water and diluted the apple gels even further, so they would still have slight pain relief properties without doing any actual healing - he could barely keep his eyes open. He struggled to stay awake at least a little longer, so that Sodia wouldn't be left alone again.

She saw his struggles and smiled. "Go to sleep, sir. Don't worry about me. I just want to see you get better."

Flynn yawned, coughed for over ten seconds, and then fell to the ground with a groan. "Yeah… I really should sleep." He was fast asleep within seconds of his eyes closing.

* * *

Flynn awoke to complete darkness. Sodia must have put the fire out. No, wait, it was pitch black because his eyes were closed. He tried to open them so he could see if Sodia was awake and if so how long he'd been asleep, but they refused to move. It wasn't that he had to struggle against an invisible force holding them closed, they simply didn't move, like they'd never received the signal from his brain to do anything at all. What the hell? _Move_! Maybe if he pried them open with his fingers…

His fingers wouldn't move either! He lay still on the stretcher, as frozen as if he'd taken a hit from one of those plants on Ehmead Hill. He desperately tried to move at least a toe, a finger, _anything, _but his mind was a powerless guest in his frozen body. His heart rate accelerated. What was happening? Why did he sense some… some _thing_ creeping toward him? Thoughts raced, most of them identical: _there is something looming over me, oh hell, open your eyes, stupid!_

Something pressed on his chest, making it hard to breathe. He struggled for air, and imagined reaching up to knock the thing off but his arms were useless lumps. He would be shaking with fear if he had any control over his body, because there was a _thing_ sitting on his chest and without knowing how he knew it, he was certain it didn't have good intentions. It pressed him into the ground and dread so thick it was palpable oozed over his body. Breath, hot and loud in his face. It smelled of rotting meat and tinged with blood, and warmed his cheeks after the cool of the night. He didn't know what it looked like or where it had come from, but he was certain that it wanted to harm him.

A scream built in his throat, trapped inside his paralyzed body. _Why can't I move!? What is happening!?_ In all his life, he had never been so deadly certain that he was about to die. His heart throbbed so hard it hurt and every instinct screamed at him to jump up and run the hell away from whatever was on top of him. If he could only open his eyes and see what he was facing, but all he had to go off was the hot breath on his face and his intuition screaming about a shadowy beast with fangs longer then his forearm.

_I am going to die._

Any second now he would feel claws sinking into his chest. Get it over with! Waiting for the end was so much worse than actually being killed. He couldn't fight it, so just finish him! What was it waiting for? The pressure and terror dragged on until Flynn was certain he would explode.

Something rustled - Sodia turning over, probably. _ Dammit, Sodia, wake up! Help me! _How could she just lie there? How could she not feel the evil presence hanging over the campsite? He was soon to be viciously murdered and she was lying _right there_ and didn't even notice.

And then, just as suddenly as it appeared, the pressure slipped away. Whatever had sat on him slunk off and slipped back to the shadows, taking the evil presence with it. Like a spell that had been lifted, his eyes shot open and before he could stop himself he let out a scream that disturbed the birds in nearby trees.

Sodia was at his side in seconds. "Commandant! Commandant, what is it?!"

He bolted upright, not even noticing how this made his bruised ribs ache. His mouth hung open, his scream petering out into shouts and then panicked gasps before he devolved into a coughing fit.

"Sir, what's wrong?" Her voice was tense. She rubbed his back, staring at him fearfully.

When Flynn could finally talk again, he whipped his head around. "Where is it? Do you see it?"

"See what?"

"The - the thing! The thing that was one me!"

Sodia frowned and pursed her lips. "I'm not sure what you mean, sir."

"It was right here!" He could still vividly recall the sickly evil presence and he wiggled his fingers and toes to reassure himself that he had control over his body again. His hands shook and he was ready to jump at a second's warning.

"There's nothing here, sir," Sodia murmured, still rubbing his back to calm him down. "I think you were having a nightmare."

"No, I wasn't dreaming," Flynn said firmly. "I know I woke up. I could feel the blanket beneath me and I was fully aware of what was happening." It gradually sunk in that he wasn't in pressing danger of being eviscerated, but the overwhelming terror of the moment still hung over him and he couldn't stop shaking. He'd really thought he was about to die.

"Can you explain to me what happened?"

He stared at a fixed point on a tree trunk across from him. "I woke up, but I couldn't move. I couldn't even open my eyes. Then I felt something crawl on me and sit on my chest, pressing me into the ground. I could feel its malevolence in the air like static before a storm. It just sat there and I _knew_ it wanted to kill me, and I could feel its breath on my face…" He shuddered at the memory. "And then, just like that, it vanished and I could move again."

"Um… sir, I really don't think there was actually a monster."

"There _was_, Sodia! I could feel it." He understood her being skeptical about his experiences the first two nights, but now he had concrete evidence. Whatever was stalking them through the trees had actually contacted him! There was a monster in this forest far more horrifying than any Cluckit, and Flynn knew in his gut that it didn't like them. How much longer did they have until it made itself known to Sodia? How was he supposed to fight it when he couldn't stand and couldn't hold a sword?

Sodia shook her head. "No, sir, I've heard of this sort of thing happening. It's called sleep paralysis, and it's perfectly natural."

"There was nothing natural about this," Flynn said firmly. "I felt it, Sodia."

"Sleep paralysis is when your mind wakes up before your body and you can't move because your body is still asleep. Everything you described fits with what I've read about this. It's just a thing that happens to people sometimes." She patted him on the back and tried to sound encouraging. "You're fine. It isn't anything to worry about."

Flynn shook his head so hard it sparked his headache again. "I know what I experienced and it wasn't something like that. I could buy hallucinating maybe, but I felt its breath on my face. I could smell it right in front of me. I am confident there was something there!" He had tried to speak with confidence as a knight commander, but he was still so shaken by his experience that his voice wavered and turned into a nervous shout by the end.

"You need to calm down. I understand that it was frightening, but you must understand that there is really nothing to-"

"Don't tell me that!" he snapped. "There is something in this forest, Sodia. We're both in danger. Why aren't you listening to me!?"

"Commandant!" She gripped him by the shoulders and met his panicked eyes with her calm purple ones. "You're the one who told me to treat you as a normal person, and right now you are not acting like yourself at all. Are you even listening to yourself? You sound like a madman rambling about demons that don't exist. You're sick, sir. You need to rest. Go back to sleep"

"I can't, not when it's still out there."

Sighed sighed heavily and looked close to rolling her eyes. "I'll stay awake and keep watch."

She wasn't taking him seriously at all. At the moment, Flynn actually missed the Sodia who took his word as the gospel truth. "Don't be ridiculous. You can't stay awake for the rest of the night when you have to walk tomorrow."

"And you can't stay awake, either," she said firmly. She rested the back of her hand on his forehead again and then declared, "You're even hotter than earlier. You need to rest if you're going to get over this illness. In the morning, when you're well-rested and it's light out, you'll feel better."

She was right that he couldn't stay awake. He was exhausted and felt like shit, but how could he sleep when he expected that awful thing to attack him again? He'd feel better if at least Sodia understood the danger they were in, but she was determined to believe he'd just had a bizarre nightmare. Although… maybe she was right. It was possible, wasn't it? By now the reality of the experience started to fade into memory and even though he was sure he had truly felt something on him, wasn't it possible his memory was playing tricks on him again?

"Maybe… maybe you're right," he mumbled at his lap.

Sodia nodded eagerly. "That's right, sir. There's nothing to be afraid of, so just go back to sleep."

Flynn slowly let himself fall back to the ground. _Sodia is right_, he told himself over and over. If there was a monster around here, it surely would have woken her up. There was nothing to be afraid of other than Cluckits or Grasshoppers, which Sodia could take care of easily. He was being completely irrational. Sodia went back to her sleeping mat and Flynn laid on the stretcher, staring at the dark sky through gaps in the trees. Nothing to be afraid of. Go to sleep. He glanced into the shadows between the trees and dread curled in his chest with while he shuddered.

* * *

Sodia was unable to go back to sleep right away. She lay awake, trying to fall asleep, but Flynn's scream still rang through her head. She had never heard him scream like that, and to hear that much raw terror from her commandant was unsettling. He'd been so scared when he woke her up, and so very unlike himself. This wasn't the Flynn she knew, and she didn't know how to handle it. This Flynn was uncertain, goofy, and frightened of things he couldn't fight. He'd turned into a wholly different person, just like when Yuri Lowell was around to contaminate him. Except, Yuri was nowhere near them so she couldn't blame Flynn's change in attitude on him.

The only reasonable explanation was that this was simply the way Flynn behaved when he was off-duty and nervous. This wasn't a strange new attitude that had taken him over, it was just a side of himself that she'd never seen before because they only associated at work. Didn't it stand to reason, then, that the same was true for his behaviour around Yuri? She'd heard that people tended to revert to older personalities when spending time with old friends, so could it really be possible that Flynn's attitude around Yuri was just another side of him? It wasn't that Yuri planted seeds of poor behaviour in Flynn, he simply brought out a side of Flynn's personality that he generally kept under wraps on-duty.

Sodia swallowed hard and squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she could fall asleep. She desperately didn't want that to be the case, because if it was, it meant that Yuri was no more a danger to Flynn's goals than any other old friend from the lower quarter. Yuri wasn't to blame for Flynn occasionally behaving recklessly and bending the law - that had been part of Flynn all along; she just hadn't seen it. It meant that not only had her attempt to kill Yuri been legally the unethical thing to do, it had also been totally pointless.

She'd tried to kill Yuri because he forced her to see that there was more to Flynn than a perfect leader, and she couldn't deal with that.

The painful head of guilt reared, stronger than ever before. She truly believed Flynn was a strong person, so of course he wouldn't let himself be swayed by some random criminal for no reason. Yuri himself said he didn't want to sully Flynn's image and was trying to handle their friendship carefully. She remembered what Flynn had said about Yuri in their childhood, how without him Flynn likely wouldn't have survived. How Flynn had been just as childish as Yuri at one point. How Yuri never failed to pick him up when he felt down to steer him onto the right course when he faltered, even though it wasn't the course Yuri was on. Yuri understood where Flynn needed to be just as well as Sodia, he just didn't want to go down that path at Flynn's side the way she did.

She rolled over, trying to find a comfortable position on the bumpy ground. She risked opening her eyes and glimpse Flynn on his back, breathing slowly and probably asleep. She still couldn't shake how terrified he'd been only minutes ago. The only time she'd seen him that worked up before was after Zaude. The pain and fear of losing Yuri had caused him so much grief it hurt to look at him.

Flynn truly cared about Yuri so deeply, possibly even more than she cared about Flynn. Yuri had been his best friend since they were children, and knew him better than anyone. The mere fact that he understood Flynn's multiple sides of personality when Sodia, Flynn's closest aide, did not was proof of that. And what had she done? Tried to murder him.

Guilt throbbed through her chest but this time it wasn't the guilt of feeling like she'd handled the situation wrong, it was the guilt of completely misinterpreting the situation in the first place. She claimed to be more loyal to Flynn than anyone else, but she'd tried to get rid of his best friend while Yuri was willing to keep her secret because he knew Flynn needed someone like her at his side.

She pulled her hands to her face and stifled a miserable groan. Yuri was wrong; Flynn didn't need someone like her. Someone who would murder his best friend and then lie to his face about it for six months. Flynn was going to change the empire and make a world that was just, but now she wasn't so sure she deserved a place at his side. She'd done something truly terrible and she didn't know if she could ever forgive herself. Could she still work at Flynn's side? It wasn't her right to decide such a thing.

There was only one thing she could do: she had to tell Flynn the truth about Zaude.

The thought was terrifying. She'd toyed with the prospect since it happened, but never seriously considered telling him. Yuri said he had no intention of telling, and until now she hadn't seen a reason to ruin the status quo by making Flynn upset with her for something she still thought would have been best for him. Now that she realized just how misguided and stupid she'd been, the only way to get any kind of closure would be to tell Flynn the truth and let him punish her how he saw fit.

She would do it. It might take some time to build up the nerve to say something, and she should wait until they got back to Zaphias since they currently couldn't afford to distrust each other, but she would do it. She could only pray that Flynn would take mercy on her, even though she didn't feel she deserved it.


	6. On the Trail

**Chapter Six: On the Trail**

Flynn woke up when Sodia returned with two handfuls of raspberries in her cupped hands. It was lucky that she'd found a bush so near their campsite, because she was uncomfortable leaving Flynn alone in his condition. They'd run out of packed food, though, so foraging was their only option.

"Good morning, sir," she said, setting them down on her mat. "Are you hungry?"

"No," he mumbled.

"You should probably eat something, though."

He shook his head. "No, I don't think I can stomach anything. You eat; I don't want to waste your hard work by throwing it up."

With his pale, sweaty face, he had definitely worsened since last night. Sodia recalled how little she wanted to eat the last time she was sick like this, but she also knew that it was important to get at least basic nutrients when sick. Flynn had to take care of himself, especially if he wanted his leg to heal well. "I must insist, sir. You have to eat something."

"I really don't want to eat."

Sodia poured a quarter of her raspberries into one of their tin cups and then mashed them with fork until she was left with a gooey ooze. She crawled to Flynn's side, wrapped an arm under his back and helped him sit up before forcing the cup into his hand. "Drink this."

"Sodia, no," he moaned, still resting most of his weight on her.

"You have to eat something."

"You…" he coughed a few times. "You can't tell me what to do. I outrank you."

"You told me not to treat you as the commandant while we're out here. Drink it." For a moment she hesitated. Was it right to take Flynn's health into her own hands and force things on him for his own good? That's what she'd thought she was doing when she tried to kill Yuri, and that had been a huge mistake. No, this is different, she told herself. She was just trying to keep him physically healthy.

"Fine," he grumbled, pulling the cup to his lips with a shaking hand. He slowly gulped down the mashed berries as if it was poison. "There. Happy?"

"Good." She took the cup and lowered him back to the stretcher. He winced as he hit the ground and she asked, "Are you alright?"

"My side really hurts. It's getting worse."

"Hm…" Her eyes turned to the bloodied rip on Flynn's jacket and wondered why it would hurt more now than it had a few days ago. Things were supposed to get _better_ as they healed, weren't they? "Can I check on it, sir?"

"Go ahead." He closed his eyes and shivered slightly.

Sodia pulled open his jacket and carefully tugged his shirt up his chest. She ignored the way her heart fluttered as her fingers trailed across his stomach. _Not now, Sodia; stop acting like a gibbering schoolgirl._ As gently as she could, she unwound the bandages and pulled away the dressing, and her throat tightened at what she found. The wound oozed both thick blood and something yellowish. The skin around it was red and hot under her fingers. Flynn hissed as cool air hit the wound while Sodia tried to keep her stomach from churning.

"Sir… this is clearly infected." She swallowed hard, trying to figure out what to do. There was a good chance this festering wound and his gradually worsening illness were related. She ran through Flynn's condition when she'd first found him, wondering if there was anything she should have done differently to keep this wound healthy. As she pictured the scene, she gasped. "The creek."

"What 'bout it?" Flynn asked without opening his eyes.

"Your wound soaked in that creek for a few minutes before I found you. You must have caught an infection from the water." Damn, why hadn't she thought of that?! They'd gone to the trouble of boiling the apple gels to prevent getting sick from the creek, but by the time they'd done that, it was too late. He'd already picked up an infection through the open wound. Sodia could only hope this was the kind of illness Flynn could shake. She'd have to press on with even more urgency to get him to a doctor as soon as possible.

"We still have some water." She put on a professional air to control her rising panic. "Enough to clean the wound and still have drinking water. I'm going to clean this and re-bandage it, and then we're going to push on and reach Aurnion as soon as we can."

* * *

Yuri, Judith, and Karol strolled down the castle's corridors. Flynn hadn't shown up yesterday or this morning, so after lunch they set off for Zaphias. Yuri couldn't keep a smirk off his face as he thought about how shocked Flynn would be when they burst into his office and forced him to actually take a vacation for once in his life. They reached the door, and Yuri threw it open without pause. "Hey, Flynn!" He stopped a few steps into the dark office. "Huh?"

Judith peered around his shoulder. "Doesn't look like he's in."

"That's weird," Karol said. "Wonder where he is?"

Yuri approached the desk, looking for a clue. If Flynn had pushed his vacation back to catch up on work, he should be here frantically trying to get it done. The desk was meticulously organized, with neat stacks of papers on the corner and every pen carefully returned to the drawer, which Yuri was now rifling through.

"A-ha!" he said, pulling out a calendar. Every square was covered in tiny, scribbled handwriting marking out every meeting and deadline. Yuri wondered what the use of such a calendar even was, because if the entire thing was covered in writing how would you pick out the deadlines you were looking for? Some of them had been underlined, probably to signify importance, but so many of them were underlined none actually popped out. Compared to the hectic top half, the bottom two weeks were empty, save for a line drawn through them and curly handwriting Yuri recognized as Estelle's saying "Vacation!" Squeezed into the top half of the first 'vacation' day were the words "investigate Egothor Forest" in Flynn's careful printing.

"Egothor Forest?" Judith said, leaning over the desk and examining the calendar. "Why would he go there?"

"Do you think that's what held him up?" Karol asked.

Yuri shook his head. "No, see, he's marked 'arrive in Aurnion' two days ago. He was planning on being there by now."

"Hey!" A knight stood in the doorway, staring at them in surprise. "What are you doing in the commandant's office?!"

"We're looking for him," Yuri said. "I've got Flynn's permission to visit his office whenever I like." That wasn't exactly true. Flynn had never explicitly told him so, but Yuri figured Flynn wouldn't mind.

"Oh… wait, you're Yuri Lowell, aren't you?" the knight asked. When Yuri nodded, he went on, "Ok, yeah, I know who you are. Commandant Flynn isn't here right now."

"We noticed," Karol said. "Do you know where he is?"

The knight frowned. "Isn't he supposed to be with you in Aurnion? His agenda stated he would be taking time off in Aurnion this week."

"Yeah, but he didn't show up," Karol said.

"That's… odd," the knight said.

"Did he go to Egothor Forest?" Judy asked. "His calendar says something about that."

The knight nodded. "Yeah, he received a report just before he left about suspicious activity around the blastia cannons left there so he and Sodia decided to investigate on his way to Aurnion. Has he not arrived yet? That's very strange."

Yuri frowned, looking at the calendar. So, Flynn had left Zaphias on time, but was delayed before arriving in Aurnion. Something must have happened in Egothor Forest that held him up.

The knight looked nervous. "Do you think the commandant is in trouble?"

Yuri shook his head. "Nah, don't worry about Flynn. I'm sure he's fine. Probably just being overly thorough in examining those cannons. We'll head to the forest and pick him up."

* * *

They took a detoured route to reach Egothor Forest. Ba'ul flew south back to Aurnion and then they cut across Hypionia to the west instead of flying directly from Zaphias. There was a good chance Flynn was already on the road to Aurnion, so they didn't want to miss him. Ba'ul flew low and slow, giving Yuri, Judy, Karol, and Repede a chance to lean over the railings and scan the road for him. They saw plenty of monsters roaming the fields, but no sign of a pair of knights hurrying toward a late appointment. By the time Ba'ul set the Fiertia on the grass on the outskirts of the forest, it was almost evening. Yuri had been hoping they'd catch Flynn halfway to Aurnion and save them the trip into the forest, but it looked like Flynn was still in the woods.

"I wonder what's taking Flynn so long," Karol said, leaning on the railing and staring at the trees.

"Probably something dumb he could easily delegate," Yuri said while helping Judith get the gangplank ready to climb down.

Judith analyzed his face as they lowered the walkway. "You're not worried about him?"

Yuri shrugged, and knew better than to try to lie about this to his friends. "Well… maybe a little. It is weird that Flynn would be late, but I also know he can handle himself, so I'm not _too_ worried."

Repede barked his agreement and then trotted down the gangplank with Yuri close behind. Judith waved goodbye to Ba'ul and then the group headed into the forest. It had been a long time since Yuri was in Egothor Forest, but it hadn't changed much. The trees were tall and full of leaves and the spires of the low, craggy mountains in the middle rose above the tree line. They followed the path past the river and strolled uphill. The sun was low in the sky so it wasn't as hot as it had been around noon, and the cool breeze made the leaves rustle.

"You know, we should have gone to Halure and picked up Rita and Estelle," Karol said. "If someone is messing with the blastia cannons, I'm sure Rita will want to know about it."

"Yeah, but Halure is way out of our way," Yuri said. "We can talk to her if it turns out there's something wrong with them."

"There must be something going on with them," Judith said. "Otherwise Flynn wouldn't be spending so much time investigating them."

"Yeah, that's true." Flynn must be camped out at the top of one of these peaks, trying to work out whatever problem he'd found on his own like an idiot. "I'm going to have to give him a talking to about what 'vacation' means."

"You'd think Sodia would force him to take the time off," Karol said. "She came here with him, didn't she?"

Yuri laughed. "Yeah, but she's just as keen as he is. They've probably both forgotten he's even supposed to be on vacation right now."

Idle conversation entertained them on the way up the mountain. The path zigzagged as it became even steeper, until the forest dropped away beneath them. They walked along the side of a cliff, with a steep drop on the other side leading to a creek. They should reach the peak in about half an hour, where Yuri fully expected to find Flynn.

Their casual mood ended the second Karol froze and pointed ahead. "I-is that a body?"

For a second Yuri was terrified it would be Flynn, but as he fully rounded the turn he saw messy black hair and dark clothes and knew it had to be someone different.

Judith wrinkled her nose and covered her face with her hand. "Seems like he's been here for a few days."

The buzzing of flies nearly drowned out the wind and Yuri pulled the collar of his shirt over his face to try to block the smell. The corpse had probably been here for over a week, based on how decayed it was. The body had been ripped open by scavenging monsters, and Karol stayed as far back from it as he could.

"Who is it?" Karol asked, his voice muffled by the bandanna he'd pulled up to mask his face.

Yuri crouched, trying to get a better look at the face. "I'm not sure." With how decayed he was, Yuri might not recognized him even if they had met before. The man had a black scarf wrapped around the bottom half of his face and a hood pooled under his head. He seemed to have been trying to conceal his identity. Splotches of blood covered the ground near the body, and Yuri was pretty sure that wound on his chest was the result of a sword.

"Looks like there was a fight," Judith said, surveying the scene.

"That's what I was thinking." Yuri stood up and frowned. "I'd bet anything this has something to do with what held Flynn up. So where is he now?" Yuri tried to piece together a scenario. Flynn and Sodia had been walking this way when this strange man attacked them. Most likely he was an assassin. Clearly he had been defeated, but if so, why hadn't Flynn shown up yet? Unless there had been more than one assassin… If a group had attacked them, perhaps they'd only managed to kill one and then been taken prisoner, explaining Flynn's mysterious disappearance. But then why would the captors leave their buddy lying here to be picked apart by monsters?

Repede barked and growled to get his attention, glaring over the side of the path.

"What did you find?" Yuri asked when he reached Repede's side. It was hard to make out clearly in the shadows casted by the setting sun, but there was another black shape lying on the edge of the creek. Another body. Yuri studied in carefully and let out a breath of relief when he realized that one also couldn't be Flynn. He scanned the area around the creek until something glinting in the orange light of twilight caught his attention. On a grassy patch on the bank of the creek was a pile of armour. Yuri squinted to make out details, but it was hard to see clearly from up here.

"Is that Flynn's armour?" Judith asked, standing by his side.

"I'm not sure. It's hard to tell from up here."

"Let's find out." Before he could stop her, she leapt off the path. The slope to the creek was steep, but she lightly hopped between boulders and patches of grass. Not about to let her beat him to the bottom, Yuri followed suit.

"Hey, wait!" Karol shouted. "You guys, don't just go charging down there!"

Yuri scrambled down the slope, trying to find the quickest route without falling. His feet slid on the dirt a few times but he managed to catch himself by grabbing a fistful of long grass and then stabilizing himself on a boulder. By the time he reached the bottom he had dirt on his knees and tiny rocks embedded in his palms. Unfortunately, his effort was for nought.

"I won," Judith said with a smile.

Yuri rubbed his hands to dislodge the stones. "Yeah, well you had a head start."

"Typical excuses."

Karol and Repede made their way down more slowly, while Yuri hopped across the creek to check out the pile of armour. He knelt and picked up a gauntlet, turning it over in his hands. "It sure looks like Flynn's."

Repede reached the bottom and splashed across the creek to join Yuri. He sniffed the armour in Yuri's hand, and then thoroughly sniffed the pile sitting in the grass.

"What do you think, Repede?" Yuri asked. "Flynn's?"

Repede woofed in confirmation.

"Thought as much." Now that this mystery was taken care of, he could focus on the next question: where the hell was Flynn and why had he taken his armour off?

A yelp from Karol drew Yuri's attention, and he turned back to see Judith catch him on the last jump and help him to the ground. He thanked her and then leaped across the creek. "So is it Flynn's?" he asked when he and Judith reached him.

"Yeah." Yuri set the gauntlet back in the pile. "And it looks like most of this is banged up." Flynn took great care of his armour, so any scuffs or dings would be recent. The gauntlet he'd examined was scratched in a few places and a pauldron near his foot curled inward with a deep dent in the top.

"Hm…" Judy picked up a greave, which was bent so badly Yuri could hardly imagine a leg even fitting inside it.

With a sinking feeling, he realized that wasn't just his imagination - a leg _couldn't_ fit in there, at least not if it was straight. Since the two sides of it were bent evenly, it didn't look like it had been damaged after taking it off, either. A mental image of Flynn's leg encased in armour snapping to the side filled his mind and worry grew. Wherever Flynn was, he must have a broken leg.

"This doesn't look good," Karol said, examining one of the shoulder pauldrons in his hands. "If Flynn was wearing all this when it got damaged, he must be really hurt."

Judith turned her head back to the path and stood. "I imagine it would be difficult to climb back up that slope in an injured state." She strolled away from the pile, eyes on the ground.

"Yeah," Yuri nodded, "especially with a broken leg. Where do you suppose they are now?"

Karol rubbed his chin, thinking it over and putting all the pieces together. "Hm… ok, here's what I think happened. Flynn and Sodia were walking down the path when they got ambushed by these two guys. They won, but somehow one of the assassins and Flynn fell off the side of the path and that's how they ended up down here. Sodia must have climbed down after them to help Flynn, but then they discovered they couldn't get back up because he was too injured from the fall or maybe he was wounded by the assassin. So… they'd have to find another way out of the forest."

"Great," Yuri said. "He's gone and gotten himself lost in the woods, hasn't he?"

"Looks like it," Karol said. "We'll have to look for them."

Repede barked, and Yuri translated. "Repede says he can track Flynn's scent. It shouldn't be too hard to find them, and if Flynn's injured they're probably moving slow."

"We should split up," Judy said, walking back toward them. "Karol, you go with Ba'ul and search from the skies. I'll accompany Yuri and Repede tracking them by foot."

Yuri raised his eyebrows. "You don't want to go with Ba'ul?"

"It makes more sense this way. I can keep in constant contact him with from a distance, so I can tell him where we are to pick us up. There's no point in you getting lost in the woods, too."

"Oh, good point."

"There's something else, though. Over there," she pointed along the creek, "there are footsteps in the mud."

"That's a good sign," Karol said. "We know which direction Flynn went in for sure, then."

"Yes, that could be," Judith said. "Except, the prints are rather large. Much bigger than Sodia's feet, I'm sure. If Flynn's leg is broken, he probably isn't walking, so they can't be his."

"Someone else was here, then," Yuri said. He couldn't see the footsteps from where he sat, but he trusted Judy. "We would have been told in Zaphias if the Knights knew Flynn was missing and had sent a rescue patrol, and no one else knew he was going to be in the forest."

"Nobody except the person who sent the assassins after him," Judith said.

"Uh-oh," Karol said. "You think it's another assassin after him?"

"I'd count on it," Yuri said.

"The footsteps looked fresh, probably from yesterday," Judy said. "They've got a head start on us, but we still have time to get to Flynn and Sodia before this guy does."

"Damn," Yuri said, finally standing up with a scowl. "That idiot is always getting himself into trouble."

Karol snorted and muttered, "You're one to talk."

"I heard that, Captain."

"In any case," Judy said, "there's no point starting our search now. The sun is almost down and we won't find anything in the dark. I'll call Ba'ul to pick us up and then we can start the search in the morning."

* * *

Flynn lay awake, wishing he could fall asleep. He couldn't remember ever being this sick before. It had been two days since Sodia discovered his wound was infected, and his condition steadily worsened. He lay by the remains of their fire, trying to get all its lingering heat because he was freezing. He also fought the urge to pull his jacket off and throw it across the clearing because he was sweltering. All his muscles ached like he'd run a marathon even though he'd done nothing but lie on his back for a week (thanks to his leg, which also hurt). The need to cough pressed against his lungs and he struggled it hold it in, because that aggravated both his bruised ribs and his throbbing headache. To top it all off, this morning a stomach ache had settled in and seemed to be with him for the long haul, accompanied by curious pink spots covering his torso. They didn't itch, but their mere presence alarmed him.

They alarmed Sodia as well. She tried to keep up a brave face for his benefit, but he'd seen the fear in her eyes when she pulled up his shirt this morning to change the bandage and seen the spots. Gone were the long days of chatting through the woods, because Flynn spent almost all his time sleeping. He'd never had an illness this bad before, and he wasn't sure if infections like this were even something you could expect to recover from without medical intervention.

At least he wasn't hungry. Sodia had stopped hiking early to give herself a chance to try to catch something for dinner and came back with a small Peepit. Now that they didn't have packed food as a backup option, there was nothing funny about struggling to figure out how to get the meat from it. She managed to cut enough off to cook for her own dinner and tried giving Flynn some, but he couldn't stomach solid food so let her eat it all. Finding sufficient food while travelling would be difficult, so at the very least Flynn's lack of appetite meant he wouldn't suffer from hunger.

He thought longingly of his own bed and how dearly he wished he could be sleeping there and not on the hard ground in the middle of nowhere. More than anything in the world, he just wanted to go home. Vacationing in Aurnion didn't even sound fun anymore compared to spending a whole week lying in bed and eating hot soup and maybe Lady Estellise would visit to take care of him…

He rolled his eyes and pushed those thoughts aside. He hadn't been anything close to this sick since he was a child and it made him feel like he was seven years old again. For a strong, hot moment, he missed his mom. He could see her so clearly, fretting over him with greying hair falling out of a bun. Her skirt was patched in so many places it was almost a quilt, but she couldn't afford to buy herself a new one because Flynn had just had a growth spurt and needed new shoes. She'd make him soup, which would taste awful but he'd force it down anyway because she'd scold him if he wasted food. Sitting net to his bed, she'd read him letters from his dad describing all his adventures with the Knights.

Flynn had a sneaking suspicion now that he was older that she had exaggerated some of those letters to entertain him, but he'd lived off of them when he was a kid. Then she'd ruffle his hair and smile at him with her lined face. She'd always looked so tired, he thought now. How exhausting must it have been to work a full time job with your husband away in the Knights and take care of two young boys, one of whom wasn't even your own. No wonder she hadn't been strong enough to shake the illness that had claimed her.

_But that's not going to happen to me_. He was young and fit; he could overcome this. It was just a fever, wasn't it? He wasn't going to go out the same way as his mom.

He took a deep breath to clear his mind, the pain from his bruised ribs distracting him from thoughts of his mom. His head turned to the side, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw a pair of glowing eyes staring at him from the bushes. What… what the hell was that? It was low to the ground, peering out from the shadows behind the leaves. The eyes gleamed a pale yellowish white, and Flynn wondered how long they had been there, just watching.

It had to simply be a raccoon or something like that. _Nothing to worry about. Just close your eyes and go to sleep. _He couldn't, though. He couldn't move a single muscle as he stared into those eyes, and a creeping dread trickled into his mind, accompanied by the thought, _It wasn't me. I didn't kill the Peepit. I'm sorry_.

Why was he apologizing to a raccoon!? This was ridiculous. His chest tightened with inexplicable fear. There was nothing to be afraid of, but he was afraid anyway. Were the shadows darker than they had been before? And why were those eyes still staring at him!? They drew him in and filled him with guilt for the slaughter of the Peepit. They bored into him like knives, and the shadows around the edges of the trees seemed to stretch and expand, like they were trying to reach for him and swallow him up.

With the effort he'd usually put into moving a boulder, Flynn jerked his head away and squeezed his eyes shut. As soon as the eyes left his sight, it was like a steel hand released him and his muscles unclenched. He let out a breath and glanced back, but the eyes were gone. It was nothing. Just a raccoon. They'd been low to the ground, hadn't they? The shadowy form he'd seen the first night had been huge and bulky, so its eyes would be much higher. Wait, dammit, that assumed the shadow he'd seen then was real, which it couldn't be. At least, he didn't think so.

If it was just a raccoon, though, why was his heart still hammering with fear and why had the shadows deepened around it? It had to be just an effect of the fever… probably.


	7. Truth and Lies

**Chapter Seven: Truth and Lies**

On the plus side, they finally found the creek. Sodia had nearly dropped to her knees with relief when she heard the trickled water, because at last their days of wandering aimlessly had come to an end. This creek would lead them out, and hopefully soon. It had been over a week since they first left the creek, and Flynn's condition rapidly deteriorated. They'd stopped for the night now, and Sodia had managed to scavenge from edible roots to tide herself over. She couldn't find anything suitable for Flynn to eat, which didn't seem to bother him because he had no appetite at all.

She poked the dying fire with a stick, knowing she'd have to put it out soon. They only had one barrier left and she was saving it for an emergency. Light and smoke would attract monsters in the night, and though the creates of Egothor Forest weren't' typically too much trouble they could be dangerous if they attacked without warning while she slept.

Flynn groaned and she shot her head up. She'd thought he'd fallen asleep again, but he must have woken up.

"'M late for work," Flynn muttered, staring at the darkening branches above his head. He started trying to get up, planting his hand on the ground and pushing up. He gasped when that strained his sprained wrist and fell back down. "Ouch, dammit!"

"Lie down, sir," Sodia said quickly. "Just lie down."

"Can't. Late for work. I have to… finish those papers."

He started sitting up again, but Sodia was at his side before he got far grabbed his shoulders, pushing him to the ground as gently as she could. "You don't need to go to work, sir," she said as firmly as she could. "You are not in Zaphias."

He blinked at her and stared with half-lidded eyes for nearly thirty seconds. "I'm… not?"

She shook her head. "No. We are in Egothor Forest. We were ambushed and you were injured. Your leg is broken and you can't walk."

"…Oh. Right. Yeah, that's what happened. Ok."

He nodded passively and Sodia scooted away from him, trying to remain calm. This was the fifth time this evening they'd had almost this exact same conversation.

"Why're we in Eg'thor F'rest?" His speech was slurred, almost like he were drunk, even though Sodia could hardly imagine Flynn getting drunk.

Sodia closed her eyes and sighed for a second. When she opened them, she tried to keep her voice calm. "We were investigating the Hoplon blastia cannon based on a tip from Mimula Cumore. It was a trap. She sent assassins to ambush us."

"What a bitch."

Sodia hung her head and chewed on her lip. "Yes, sir." His fever had not gone down. In fact, it had grow progressively hotter until pressing her hand to his forehead was like picking up armour that had been left in the sun all afternoon. He was pale and clammy, with cracked lips and spots covering his torso. His abdomen was swollen while his chest shrunk so she could almost see his ribs. His sunken face was constantly tired and since yesterday evening, it had become a steadily rare task to find him in a lucid state. Most of the time he was either sleeping or delirious.

"Sod'a… mind me when get to Za… Zaph… capital, I needa check the vents."

Sodia frowned. "Er… I beg your pardon, sir?"

"Gotta check 'em. Maybe they're broke. An' then the thing witha danny-lions…"

"You're not making any sense, sir."

He turned to her and glared, frustrated that she didn't understand him. "My office is bad an' it needs clean but I can't do it 'cause I'm in a f'rest."

Sodia stared at him blankly, and his frustration turned into agitation. He rambled something else, but Sodia couldn't even figure out what he was trying to say. With an angry sigh, Flynn lay back and glared at the treetops. A stream of unintelligible rambling poured out of his mouth. Sometimes picked out a word, like "apple gels" or "Lady Estellise" or "desk", but couldn't figure out what he was possibly trying to say. Flynn seemed to have forgotten he was even trying to talk to her and happily rambled to the trees.

Sodia rested her chin on her knees and tried not to cry. She had never felt so alone in the woods before. Even when Flynn was asleep, she at least had the comfort of knowing she could wake him up at any time and he would be there. Now, though, the Flynn she'd come to so heavily depend on was gone. He wasn't napping, he had left the building and she never knew when he'd come back. She was truly alone out here, with only a delirious shell of the commandant for company. There was nothing she could do for him, and he was dying.

He fingers tightened around her knees as the word shot through her head. _Dying_. She hadn't even let herself think it, but she couldn't ignore it any longer. This was not a simple cold he just had to get over or a quick stomach flu. For over a week his symptoms had been worsening and now all he could do was lie there with the hottest fever she had ever seen and waste away. She was certain now that if he didn't get treatment soon, he would die. Sodia felt so helpless sitting here, watching him have a garbled conversation with a tree. She had no way of knowing if he'd even return to lucidity this time. It was entirely possibly she'd already lost her last chance to talk to him when he still had control over his mind, and that thought terrified her. There was still so much she needed to tell him, but there wasn't a point in telling him anything in this state. Flynn might die without her ever having a chance to tell him the truth about Zaude. She didn't know if she could live with herself if she never got a chance to get closure for that.

She had to take a deep breath through her nose to quell rising tears. She had never imagined she might be frightened of Flynn, but seeing him, the man she respected above all else, lying so close and yet knowing his mind was impossibly far away, was the most terrifying thing she'd ever experience. The shadows seemed so much darker, and the night so much colder.

A sudden clarity in Flynn's voice caught her attention. "Sodia… why'm I outside? I wanna sleep in bed. Le's go inside."

Sodia had to hold back a sob. "You can't go inside, sir. You are not in Zaphias."

"W…what? Where'm I?"

"We are in Egothor Forest."

"Oh… Right…"

She rubbed her eyes with her palms. _You'll get through this, Sodia. You both will_. She'd found the creek, hadn't she? She just had to follow that to get out. If they followed the creek straight, it would probably take at least three days of walking to leave the forest, and then another two or three to get to Aurnion. Could Flynn last another week? He was going to have to, because she would never forgive herself if he died in her care.

* * *

Flynn groggily opened his eyes. Through the trees, the sky was a dim blue. Probably almost nightfall. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was, but the constant pounding of his leg reminded him. For all he knew, he could have been asleep for weeks. After a deep yawn, he managed to prop himself on his elbow and find Sodia preparing dinner. A skinned squirrel roasted over the fire on a stick planted in the dirt, and a pot boiled fresh water from the creek.

"Mm… Sodia, what day is it?" Keeping himself upright took a lot of energy and speaking was difficult. His mouth tasted awful and he hoped those berries Sodia had found were for him. He didn't like the idea of putting food in his stomach, but at least they'd freshen his mouth.

Sodia gasped. "Oh! Commandant, it's so good to see you up. It's been three days since you were last… fully conscious."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You've been… rather out of it for the past few days, sir."

He had fuzzy memories of being awake and rambling about nonsense. Damn, he must have made a fool of himself. His elbow shook from the exertion of keeping himself upright, so he let himself slump back down. "I'm sorry. That must have alarmed you."

"You don't need to apologize. It wasn't you." She poured a handful of berries into a cup and began mashing them into a pulp. "Are you feeling any better, sir?"

Flynn pondered this for a moment, and then tiredly shook his head. "Honestly, no." He had the strength of a rag doll and the war between being freezing and burning up left him exhausted. He didn't know how much longer he'd be able to keep fighting this. The infection on his side didn't feel any better, and this illness was only going to get worse.

"Here, sir." She passed him the cup with berries. "You've hardly eaten in days."

He didn't feel hungry at all, but a glance at his skinny arm warned that if he didn't start eating soon he was going to wind up dangerously malnourished. He forced the entire thing down his throat in one go. The berries were bitter and he nearly gagged, but at least it was food. Sodia took the cup back from him and he briefly stretched his arms above his head, before the strength to lift them ran out and they fell to the ground. "I'm going to have to do a lot of training to get back into condition when I get back to Zaphias."

Sodia didn't respond. The unsaid 'assuming you survive to get out of the woods' hung in the air.

Flynn met Sodia's eyes. "Sodia… I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."

"You are clearly not fine." She glared at her knees. "Your illness is worsening and I don't know how I can help you."

"Focus on doing everything you can to get us out of here." And, because Flynn knew just as well as Sodia did that his condition was serious and possibly terminal, he added, "You've done everything you could have. I'd have been dead a week ago if you weren't here. You did nothing wrong." If he died, the last thing he wanted was for Sodia to blame herself. He'd spent the last few days out of his mind, and he had no guarantee that he'd be able to hold onto lucidity for this long again. If there was anything he needed to say to Sodia, he should do it now, just in case.

When Sodia raised her eyes, tears glistened, threatening to fall. "I… thank you, sir."

"It'll be alright. I know you won't give up our dream to reform the empire. I trust you to carry it through, even if… if I'm not there."

She vigorously rubbed her eyes and sniffed. "Sir, please, don't talk like that. I - I don't deserve that kind of loyalty."

"Of course you do. You're my most trusted subordinate. I really mean it, Sodia. I trust you to carry our vision forward because I know you want it just as strongly as I do."

Sodia shook her head. "No, sir. I don't deserve your trust."

Flynn frowned, not sure what that tone in her voice was. Hesitantly, he asked, "What do you mean?"

Sodia took a deep breath and rubbed the last tears from her eyes. "Sir… I… this is something I should have told you a long time ago. I've been meaning to tell you for a while, but it never seemed like the right now. But now… if this is my last chance to talk to you when you're lucid… you deserve to know the truth about Zaude."

His frown deepened. "Zaude…? What in the world does that have to do with anything?"

"It's about what happened to Yuri Lowell when he fell from Zaude. You see… neither of us ever told you the full story of what transpired."

"What are you talking about?"

Sodia swallowed hard. She fidgeted, clenched and unclenched her hands, and glanced around the campsite to look at everything but him. "Yuri… Yuri Lowell did not simply fall from the shockwave of the blastia crashing. He fell because… because I… I stabbed him, sir."

He stared at her, certain he'd misheard due to fever. "E-excuse me? Did you say…?"

"You heard correctly, sir."

He didn't know what to say. He was still half-certain she was going to laugh and say it was a bad joke, even though such a joke was completely out of character for her. All he could do was slowly say, "...Explain."

"On the day of Alexei's death, I followed Lady Estellise and her companions to the top of the shrine to assist her. I arrived too late to be of help, for when I arrived Alexei had just been killed. I saw Yuri Lowell standing alone on the edge of the shrine, separated from the rest by the dust and debris from the crashed blastia. In that moment, I… I saw my chance to get him out of the way. I stabbed him, and he stumbled off the edge."

The world was surreal. What she said couldn't be true, but Sodia would never lie about something like this. He didn't know what to say, or even what to think. He manage to get partially upright again and gaped at her. All he could think to say was, "…Why?"

Sodia hung her head. "Anything I say would be an excuse, sir."

He took a shaky breath. "I don't care; I want to know. _Why_? Why would you try to kill my best friend?"

"I thought he was a dangerous influence on your, sir. I misinterpreted the situation and thought both that he was a criminal who'd continually escaped justice, and also that his presence was corruptive to your ideals."

"'Misinterpreted'?" Flynn said breathlessly. He shook with exertion from staying upright but he wasn't ready to lie down again. "You attempted to murder a civilian based on a misinterpretation?"

"I recognize that it was a poor decision. Even if Yuri was as bad as I had made him out to be, that still gives me no right to take his punishment into my own hands. I was wrong, sir. I misjudged Yuri Lowell, I misjudged your relationship with him, and I misjudged you. I am… so ashamed of my actions." She couldn't meet his eyes.

"Well, you damn well should be!" he snapped. He could barely believe what he was hearing. He _trusted_ Sodia. The only people he considered himself closer to were Lady Estellise and Yuri. How _could_ she? She'd stood by his side and watched his fear and pain over losing Yuri, _for weeks, _and done nothing, even though she was solely responsible for putting him in that position. He had come agonizingly close to losing his best friend, and he had his other close friend to thank for it. "What are you even talking about? Corrupting me? In what way would Yuri being around 'corrupt' me?"

"It was so stupid." Her voice was like liquid misery and guilt oozing out of her mouth. "I…I idolized you, sir. When I saw you with Yuri, I thought you were different. You seemed less… less _you_. You went along with his unlawful exploits and I saw how your resolve shook after conversations with him. You seemed like a different person, and I was afraid that it meant he was tarnishing you."

Flynn felt sick. He _was_ sick, and horribly so, but now he wanted to throw up. It was like being seasick, but instead of waves rocking the world it was a horrifying truth. "That's… I wasn't a different person! Yuri is my best friend; of _course_ I'm going to act differently toward him than I would another knight!" If they'd had this conversation at any other time, he probably would have been able to stay calm. As it was, his tolerance level was lower than the level of his health and he had no energy to spare holding in his fury.

"I know, sir. I _know_. I've realized that by now. I cannot apologize enough for the awful thing I did."

"No, you can't." His strength ran out and he collapsed onto his back. He paused to pant for breath and then said, "You tried to murder my best friend." What was more, apparently Yuri has decided not to tell him about this, either, so he was also guilty of lying to him. Did Lady Estellise know? He couldn't deal with this stress. He already felt like shit, and now he had this massive betrayal to deal with. All he wanted to do was lie in bed, eat soup, and nap until his fever dropped below 100 at the very least. Now he had to figure out how mad he should be with Yuri, and even more importantly, what he was supposed to do with Sodia. Forgive her? Discharge her? Arrest her and charge her for attempted murder? How could he put her in prison when she was one of his best friends?! _Yes, but her near-victim was Yuri. _

Damn everything, he couldn't think about this. "Why are you telling me this now?"

"I thought you deserved to know."

"Yes, I do." That came out more angry than he'd intended. "But why _now?_ I deserved to know six months ago!"

"It just… it never seemed like a good time to tell you."

"But now does?! I can't…" he paused to take a breath and wondered when he'd run out of strength to even yell. He felt silly enough shouting at the sky because he couldn't sit up enough to face her. He seethed, "Don't you think I have enough to deal with?"

"Well… yes, sir," she said softly. "But I thought… I thought it might be my last chance. You deserved to know before you… died."

"Don't give me that. What am I supposed to do with this information if I die? You just want to feel better about yourself by telling the truth and are afraid I'll die before you have a chance to seek forgiveness."

Sodia gaped at him, and Flynn almost felt apologetic for speaking so harshly. Almost. He had very little pity to spare for her, and that decreased every time he remembered how painful Yuri's absence had been.

"Sir… I know I have no right to beg your forgiveness."

"You're right. You don't." He was glad he couldn't sit upright now, because he didn't even want to look at her.

"I will accept whatever punishment you see fit."

"Yeah. Right." Don't remind him he had to figure out what to do about her. Deciding her punishment was his responsibility, but he didn't even know where to start. He sighed heavily. "I can't think about this now. I'll figure this out when we get back to Zaphias."

"Yes, sir," she mumbled.

Flynn tried to ignore her for the rest of the evening. He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep, but all he could picture were hundreds of variations of how the event at Zaude might have gone. What must Yuri have thought? How much pain had she put him through? As his subordinate, Sodia's actions were at least partially his responsibility. His own knight - someone he'd trusted with his life - had tried to kill Yuri. It was like he'd betrayed Yuri himself. Another terrifying thought struck him - had Yuri thought Flynn had ordered Sodia's actions? No, he couldn't have. He and Yuri had their disagreements, but certainly Yuri would never consider that Flynn had actually ordered his death.

…But _what if_? What if he had, even for a split second? What if he saw Sodia running at him with a knife and thought 'Flynn's sent his knight after me!' Things had certainly been more tense than usual between them during that adventure. He had to stop thinking about this, because it was just too horrible to consider.

He shivered and opened his eyes again because sleep wasn't coming to him. His whole body was miserable and he wished Sodia had never told him the truth. It would have been so much nicer to die without knowing he'd been betrayed. _No… I can't die here… not like this_. It was too stupid. The commandant of the Knights could not die from a stupid infection picked up in a creek. He imagined how satisfied Mimula would be if he kicked the bucket out here and it filled him with rage. It mingled with the rage at Sodia, and burned so hot it threatened to worsen his fever.

Something moved out of the corner of his eye and his head fell to the side. He didn't see anything now, but he was certain there had been something. He stared into the dark shadows of the trees, trying to find any sign of movement, but they were as still as Sodia sitting across from him.

He kept staring, until five minutes had passed and he realized he couldn't remember what he was looking for anymore. What was… the shadow! Dammit, why had he forgotten that? With rising dread, he realized he was slipping into delirium again. Not now! He had just seen evidence of something in the trees; he had to stay alert. He took deep breaths and tried to hold onto his sanity. He clung to his fury at Sodia, because it was a current, pressing memory and emotion he could use to grip the moment. Anger at Sodia rose through him, and he stared into the woods on high alert.

_You are Flynn Scifo. You're in Egothor Forest. Sodia tried to murder Yuri and there's a monster in the woods_. He repeated it over and over to maintain his grip on reality. What if he was never able to grab hold of lucidity again? What if his body finally gave out after days of extreme fever when he was still delirious? What if this was his last chance to think clearly as himself and he wasted it on hating Sodia?

He hadn't actually given dying serious thought before now. He'd known it was a possibility, but now that he was here, clinging to his mind and unsure if he'd ever be himself again if he let it slip away, he was terrified. Even if his body held out for another week, did it really matter if he spent it delirious? If it wasn't _him_… he might be as good as dead in less than a minute. He had never been both so close to and totally unable to prevent his own death before. He desperately didn't want to die, and especially not like this. He was supposed to die on his feet, doing his job and defending his people - not shivering on the ground, too weak to even sit up. He could almost feel his mind slipping away like someone had poured oil into his ears. He was losing his mind but he was too sick to fight back.

All fears flew out of his mind when movement caught his eye and his head jerked around to find what was stalking them. The longer he stared, the less certain he was he'd actually seen anything. That didn't stop his skin from prickling from the unnerving sensation of being watched. That might just be the cold sweat covering his body. Did a branch just crack like something had stepped on it, or was it just his imagination? Sodia hadn't reacted, but then she still seemed deeply engrossed in her own thoughts. Flynn's certainty that something was out there, creeping up on them and just waiting for a chance to strike, waxed and waned with his grip on reality.

_You are Flynn Scifo. You're in Egothor Forest_. Wait… why was he in Egothor Forest? He should be back in Zaphias. He had paperwork to finish… what was that?! There was something in the trees!

No, stop, shut up! If he had the strength to punch himself in the face, he would. _There's nothing out there; you're hallucinating. _

Yeah, that made sense… except he couldn't think of a reason that he would be hallucinating. He was sick, wasn't he? How had he gotten sick? His muscles stiffened with fear as he realized he didn't know where he was. It was dark… there were trees… why was he outside!?

In a panic, he asked Sodia what was going on, but instead of telling him she said, "Uh… pardon, sir?"

Frustrated, he asked again.

"Sir, I… I'm not sure what you're saying."

Why wouldn't she answer? This must be why he was so inexplicably furious with her. Wait, no, there was something else…

It wouldn't come to him. Concentrating was so difficult and made his head even more sore than it already was. He didn't know why he was in a forest or when he had gotten him, but there was definitely something wrong. He glanced around the trees, searching for clues, and his heart stopped when he saw something walking toward him. A shadow form, vaguely humanoid but the proportions were all off. It crept through the trees, until he managed to shout and flail his arms to get Sodia's attention. She couldn't understand what he was saying for some reason, but he needed to tell her they were under attack.

"What?!" Sodia leapt to her feet. "Commandant, what is it?!"

He gestured madly to the trees, but when he looked back, the figure was gone. He stared in confusion, but the sudden absence of what he'd been so certain he'd seen just freaked him out more. There _had _been a shadowy figure there… but then, he couldn't even remember his name, so what did he know?


	8. Ruined

**Chapter Eight: Ruined**

Yuri and Judith followed Repede through the forest. Repede kept his nose close to the ground, following Flynn's scent. They'd been following the trail for almost a week now. Every night, Karol picked them up on Ba'ul and they camped out on the path to avoid monsters, and then were dropped off in the morning again to continue the search. Yuri kept his spirits up by reminding himself that Repede was still following Flynn's scent, meaning Flynn was still moving forward. If Flynn and Sodia had gotten into trouble, they'd have found them, or their bodies, by now. Sometimes the trail led them across soft soil, and they were able to make out tracks. Two parallel lines dragged through the dirt, which Judith said probably meant Flynn was being dragged.

It was high-noon, but the sky was covered in stormy clouds making it too dark to tell. Yuri and Judith stopped when they found the remains of another camp site. Repede had led them to a few of them over the past few days. They gave Yuri hope because they were tangible evidence that Flynn and Sodia had been here, and not too long ago.

"How many days behind them do you think we are?" Yuri asked, picking up a discarded bone. He couldn't tell what animal it had been from, but it was small enough to fit into the palm of his hand.

"Hard to say." Judith looked around the old campsite while Repede sniffed the ground near the charred remnants of a fire. "A few days at least. I think we're catching up to them."

Karol and Ba'ul hadn't had any luck either. The forest was huge and too densely covered in trees. Even flying slow and barely skimming over the tree tops, they hadn't been able to find Flynn and Sodia yet. Chances were they kept barely missing them. It was frustrating, but Yuri tossed the bone aside and reminded himself that dead people didn't cook dinner. They were alive, and the distance between them was quickly shortening. They'd catch up soon.

Repede barked and growled, alerting Yuri's attention. "What is it, Repede?"

Repede growled again, and Yuri crawled a few feet over to see what he was looking at. Repede's nose pointed a boot-print, fresher than the others surrounding the site. Whoever had left it must have passed through only a day or so ago, but that meant he was a day or so closer to reaching Flynn.

"They're probably following the creek again," Judy said, standing by the edge and following the running water with her eyes. "It meanders through the forest, so it isn't a direct route, but at least it will keep them on track."

Yuri stood and brushed his knees. "Smart. We should tell Ba'ul and Karol to fly up and down the length of the creek. Maybe they'll have better luck."

"Yes, I was just thinking that. It might be difficult, though. The creek is very narrow and Ba'ul is quite large, so if you fly high enough to see the banks around his sides, you're too high to easily spot a human. It's worth a shot, though."

"Let's keep moving. Repede, you find where the scent picks up?"

Repede growled, but didn't move from his spot. He sniffed a flattened patch of ground that had been cleared of rocks and twigs and whined.

"What's wrong?"

Repede took a few steps forward and then plopped to the ground with a heavy sigh. He sniffed at the ground and his growl was so low Yuri felt it more than heard it. Yuri frowned as he knelt next to Repede. "Is something wrong?"

Repede looked up at him with concern and growled again. Yuri's frown deepened. Repede's mood had worsened over the past few days, which Yuri had chalked up to worrying about Flynn. There was certainly worry in his eyes, but Yuri realized there was more to it. Repede would have as much faith in Flynn being alright as Yuri did, unless he knew something Yuri didn't. Whatever Repede had been worried about seemed to have come to a head here, which Yuri put together had been where Flynn had slept. Flynn's scent must be powerful in this spot, and Repede's suspicious had been confirmed. So what had Repede smelled that would concern him, something that Yuri wouldn't be able to pick up from visual clues like the dented armour?

Yuri stared into Repede's eyes for almost a minute, and then said, "He's sick, isn't he?"

Repede woofed lightly in confirmation.

"And it's bad?"

Another woof.

Yuri scowled; this complicated things. Repede had always been able to pick up the subtle changes in smell when one of them was sick, sometimes even before they knew it themselves. He rarely made much of a deal about it, though. When he knew Yuri was sick he didn't make a fuss if his dinner was late, but for the most part he let things run their course. If he was this agitated, he must have picked up a powerful illness in Flynn's scent. Yuri rested his hand on the sparse grass. He could see Flynn lying there in his mind, sweating and feverish. All Repede knew was that it was bad. Was it bad enough to kill him? Yuri sure hoped not.

He stood up again. "Let's pick up the pace, Judy. Looks like Flynn's managed to catch the flu or something."

"Oh?" She raised her eyebrows. "In addition to a broken leg? Poor guy seems to be picking up your luck."

"Yeah, well if I got some of his in return after all these years it would be fair. Repede, are you ready?"

Repede got to his feet again, sniffed around to find where the scent led away into the trees, and they resumed their search.

* * *

Sodia was glad she had told Flynn the truth about Zaude. Now that it was out of the way, she could stop worrying about it. Her worst secret was out, and now all she could do was wait for Flynn's judgement. In a way it was easier to deal with than constantly questioning when would be the right time to tell, or how to even put it into words. She would accept whatever punishment Flynn decided for her without complaint.

That is… assuming he made it back to Zaphias alive. Sodia herself was in poor shape. Blisters covered her hands and a persistent ache had settled into her muscles days ago and refused to leave. She managed to forage around for food, but only ever enough to keep going. She was constantly hungry and finding the strength to get up and keep moving became increasingly harder every time they stopped for a break. She had loved the forest as a child, but now she thought she'd be perfectly happy never seeing another tree for the rest of her life.

She snapped out of her thoughts when Flynn's weight suddenly rose from the stretcher. She whipped her head around in time to see him take a step forward. His weight came down on his broken leg, which immediately buckled under him.

"_Fuck_!" Flynn screamed, dropping to the ground and letting out a stream of vulgar language.

Sodia started at him in shock for a few seconds. It had never even occurred to her that Flynn _knew_ those words. She got the shock out of the way and then rushed to his side. "Commandant! What are you doing?!"

"Ow! What the hell!?" He curled on his side and clutched his leg, eyes squeezed shut.

"Sir, what were you thinking? You know you can't walk!"

"Why not?" He cracked his eyes open. "When the hell did this happen?!"

Sodia held in a frustrated sigh as she realized she was once again dealing with not-Flynn. "You broke your leg about two weeks ago, remember?" she tried to say clearly. "You fell off the path."

"I did?"

"Yes, sir."

"Oh, shit," his eyes went wide. "Sodia, you'll have to carry me. We have to get out of here!"

"Sir, we are on our way out. Just let me get you back on the stretcher and-"

"No, that's too slow!" Panic gripped his expression. "They're coming! We have to run!"

Sodia wrinkled her brow. "Who's coming?"

"The shadow. I saw it, Sodia. You were looking ahead and didn't but it's following us. It's darting between the trees and stalking us and it doesn't want us here. We have to run!"

Before she could help herself, she glanced around the trees, which were silent as a tomb. "There's nothing here, sir."

He shook his head. "No, no, it's gone now. Not gone, hiding. It's still here, and it's watching us! Can't you feel it?" He tried to get up again, reaching for Sodia as support to get to his feet. Sodia almost swore herself - had he forgotten already that he couldn't walk?

"There is nothing here, sir," she said firmly, grabbing his wrist and elbow. "You need to lie down and relax."

"I can't lie down! It's coming for us!"

Gently but firmly, Sodia pushed Flynn back to the ground and pinned him there by his shoulders. He struggled and tried to push her off, but Sodia easily overpowered him in his weakened state. "There's nothing there!" she shouted, her composure falling away. Her hands shook as she held him still, and staring into his panicking, confused eyes made her want to cry. The old expression 'the lights are on but nobody's home' rang through her mind. She tried to quell her shaking hands. "Commandant, you are hallucinating. If you don't stop struggling, you're going to hurt yourself."

"But the monster-"

"Shhh…" She missed Flynn. She wanted to see her strong commandant sweep in and make everything right, but he wasn't here. She was all alone in the wilderness and there was nothing she could do to bring him back.

She held him still for a few minutes, until Flynn's panic finally faded away and his eyes glazed over. He stared at her in confusion and then asked, "…Where am I?"

"You are in Egothor Forest. We were ambushed and you broke your leg."

"Oh…"

She didn't move right away and sat next to him, trying to calm down. The only positive she could think of was that at least his fever left him weak enough that she could easily overpower him before he seriously hurt himself. There was nothing she could do to help him and she felt so powerless. Her stomach growled and she groaned, burying her face in her hands. They were in too deep. They were in the middle of nowhere, Flynn was deathly ill, and she didn't know what to do. She couldn't protect him and disturbing thoughts drifted through her mind.

What would she actually do if he died? She could hardly drag a rotting corpse all the way to Aurnion, but she couldn't simply leave him at the side of the creek to be picked apart by monsters. She'd need to figure out some sort of burial, even though she had nothing to use as a shovel. She'd give him as proper a burial as she could out here in the woods, and they could give him a memorial back in Zaphias. Maybe have a whole ceremony with an empty coffin…

That was assuming she got back to Zaphias herself. It was easy to feel strong when she compared herself to Flynn, but she wasn't in good condition either. She'd never been so hungry in her life and she didn't know if she even had the strength to fight. They were following the creek because Sodia thought it would lead them out, but there was no way to be certain. She might die out here too, and then no one would ever know what happened to Flynn.

At least she'd told him about Zaude. If they were going to die, at least she wouldn't have that hanging over her head. Thinking about Zaude reminded her of Yuri and the associated crushing guilt. Yuri… he was always so strong. He didn't give up, and he didn't even feel the need to incriminate her after she'd tried to kill him. If he were here, he'd never abandon Flynn. He was a better friend to Flynn than she was. He'd probably know how to handle Flynn's episodes of delirium, too.

What was it he'd said to her? _"You gave up. You forgot your resolve…. You wanted to protect him so badly you'd kill me. Why won't you protect him now?!"_

_I can't… there's nothing I can do…._ Planning for his death was only the pragmatic thing to do. He'd been so hot it almost hurt to leave her hand on him for days now, and she knew enough about medicine to know the body couldn't handle a fever that high for too much longer. Flynn was so close to death… but she couldn't give up now. She would _not_ give up her resolve.

The overwhelming distance to Aurnion made her want to cry, but Yuri was right. She'd tried to get Yuri out of the way when she thought it was the right thing to do because he'd been in the right place at the right time and things lined up to make it easy. She was willing to do anything to protect Flynn, but only when it was easy? No! She'd never been more alone, but that just meant Flynn needed her more than ever. She'd given up on her ability to save Flynn once before, but she wasn't going to do it again. As long as Flynn's heart beat, she could do something. The distance to Aurnion was daunting in the short term, but after what she'd done at Zaude, she didn't deserve to feel pity for herself. All that mattered was getting Flynn home, no matter what the odds.

She took a deep breath and looked down at Flynn. He was quiet, but staring up with slowly moving eyes like he was watching something. Sodia glanced up herself, only to find nothing. Hallucinating again, probably. She got on her knees and examined his leg. A few of the ties on the splint needed to be tightened, and with a grimace she tried to remember if it had alway bowed this far inward or if putting his weight on it and made it even more crooked.

"I'm pulling you onto the stretcher now, sir."

"Can I bring the butterflies?"

"Uh… yes." _It's not really Flynn_, she told herself over and over. His dwindling sanity was the result of his illness, and if… she frowned and strengthened her resolve - _when_ his infection was cured, he'd be back to normal again. She lifted him by the shoulders and pulled him onto the stretcher, trying not to dwell on how much harder this had been when they first set out. He'd lost so much weight in the past couple of weeks, although considering how loose her own clothing felt she assumed she had as well. They were both in sorry states, but she was going to get them both out of here. She _had_ to.

* * *

The world shifted into focus, like a breeze pushing the haze of confusion out of his head. The change from delirious to lucid was surprisingly quick. One minute he couldn't figure out why his leg hurt but couldn't concentrate on it long enough because floating lights distracted him, the next he wanted to bury his face in his hands at the utter shame of realizing he'd been rambling to Sodia in slurred speech about all the work he needed to get done and why wouldn't she take him home.

"Sir?" Sodia glanced back at him when she heard him groan. "Everything alright?"

Her voice was hesitant, clearly still expecting him to be in a hazy stupor. "I'm fine," he said, as clearly as he could. "I seem to have control of my faculties again."

He heard a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to hear it."

Flynn looked around and noticed a long strip of bandage wrapped around his chest, all the way around the stretcher. An identical strip of bandage wrapped around his waist. "Sodia… did you tie me to the stretcher?"

"Ah… I'm sorry, sir. You tried to get up yesterday and hurt your leg." She looked ahead again and mumbled, "I… I hope I didn't overstep my bounds. I wanted to keep you from hurting yourself again."

Flynn thought, _You mean like how you tried to get rid of Yuri to protect me from hurting myself through my friend choices?_ Based on Sodia's wavering tone, she was already thinking it. He supposed he should be grateful that at the very least Sodia _knew_ she'd done a bad thing.

"It's fine," he said stiffly. "Thank you for thinking of it." He had dim memories of trying to get up and run away, which was probably why his leg seemed more painful today than it had been recently.

The storm clouds overhead worried him. They sky was dark and the air cool and damp, and Flynn had enough experience travelling to know the signs of impending rain. Maybe rain would be good, though. It would at least cool him down. Then he shivered and remembered that he was already cold, except he was also hot. It would be nice if his body could decide which extreme to focus on, because as it was he was caught in a limbo of getting the worst of both worlds.

"How do you feel today, sir?"

Flynn thought about that question and then decided giving her an honest answer wouldn't do any good. Telling her he felt like he was dying would just freak her out. "No worse than usual."

Long, awkward silence. Flynn couldn't have expected anything else. What was he supposed to say to her when he'd just found out she tried to murder his best friend? That wasn't something you could simply brush off and go back to normal. He didn't even want to look at Sodia and would prefer to spend a few days away from her so he could gather his thoughts and think clearly about what course of action to take with her. For obvious reasons he couldn't stay away from Sodia, so he was stuck sitting in her presence with nothing to do but think about how furious he was.

What the _hell_ was he supposed to do about Sodia? He'd calmed down slightly since first getting the news, but not nearly enough to have figured anything out. She had to be punished, obviously, but it was the degree of punishment he was concerned about. He ought to have her thrown in prison for the rest of her life. That was an acceptable punishment for attempted murder.

The stretcher hit a rock, which jarred him and sent shockwaves through his leg. He grunted and grimaced and for a couple of seconds wished the damn thing would just fall off because surely that would be less painful. "_Dammit_, be more careful!" he barked at her.

"I'm so sorry!" She turned sideways enough to face him without lowering the stretcher.

It had been an accident, of course. He couldn't bring himself to care. Intention didn't change the results. Her carelessness sent fire through his leg and her misjudgment had nearly lost his best friend. He didn't bother apologizing for his tone.

"Is there anything I can do to lessen your discomfort?"

"No," he grumbled. He thought for a moment, and then admitted, "I'm thirsty."

"Right away, sir."

She lowered him to the ground and pulled out his canteen. With fumbling fingers she untied the bandage around his chest, and then wrapped her arm around his shoulders to help him sit up. After unscrewing the lid she handed it to him and he took grateful gulps of water. His mouth tasted like an old shoe, but the water was warm and tasted of mud so it didn't much help. He almost drained the entire canteen, but stopped himself because he knew they wouldn't be able to replenish their supplies until they stopped for the evening and Sodia could boil more from the creek.

"You can drink it all if you need to, sir," Sodia said. "There's still my canteen."

"That's yours. You need to drink, too." He might be furious with her, but not enough to want her to die of dehydration.

"You need it more," she insisted.

"I do not! For the last time, Sodia, stop treating me like I'm some sacred demigod. My life isn't worth more than anyone else's just because I'm the commandant. It's this kind of hero-worship that led you to make the stupid decision to kill Yuri."

Sodia gaped at him and then nervously bit her lip. "Uh… actually, sir, it's because it's more vital that you replenish your fluids because you have such a high fever."

"…Oh."

"Please drink, sir. You're sick and you need to stay hydrated."

She probably had a point, and he emptied the canteen.

"Do you need anything else?"

"No, thank you." He was still resting his weight on her. It was a bizarre irony that he was stuck out here, forced to be utterly dependant on the one person he was most angry with. He couldn't look at her without imagining what she'd done to Yuri, yet needed her help for such basic things as drinking water. 'Frustrating' was too mild a word. She lowered him to the stretcher, just before drops of water sprinkled on his face. Great. The rain had arrived.

Sodia looked to the sky and frowned. "We should find cover."

"It's going to get through the trees anyway and I doubt there are any caves around here."

"Yes, but all the same, I can't imagine getting soaking wet is going to do anything good for your illness. We need to hurry."

She lifted the stretched and pushed forward. She didn't bother retying the strap around his chest, since now that he was lucid there was little risk of him trying to get up. Flynn didn't feel like he'd ever have the energy to get up again for the rest of his life, and the throbbing in his leg was enough motivation not to try.

The rain began as tiny droplets but the longer they walked the harder it got. They were covered by the trees, but that just meant the rain had a chance to accumulate on the leaves before falling in fat gobs of freezing water. The cold soothed his burning skin but sent him into shivers that antagonized his lingering injuries.

Flynn was certain he was getting the worst of it. Sodia walked slightly hunched over, so the rain poured on the back of her head and her shoulders. Flynn, meanwhile, lay on his back, totally exposed, and ended up soaked to the bone. It was stupid to resent Sodia for this, but he did anyway. He was too angry and sore to be rational.

It as hard to tell with the grey clouds obscuring the sun, but it was growing darker. They still hadn't found any substantive shelter, but Flynn didn't think it was worth it anymore. He was already drenched; what more could the rain do to him? The ground turned to mud, making their going slow. Meanwhile, the influx of water made the creek speed up, like it was mocking them with how much faster it could travel. If only they had a boat.

As the darkness grew, Sodia stopped. "What's wrong?" Flynn didn't even bother trying to sit up to look ahead.

"Ah, just nettles, sir. They're blocking the path."

Flynn sighed in frustration. "Alright, just go around."

"That was the plan, sir."

She altered their course, veering away from the rushing creek and heading further into the trees. The farther they got from the creek, the more dense the underbrush became. Sodia moved slowly, carefully manoeuvring through the mud and over the roots as gently as she could. Sodia gasped and Flynn glanced to the side to see that nettles were all around them, and Sodia paused to massage her thigh where one had stung her.

"I thought we were avoiding the nettles?"

"I'm trying, sir. There's a path between them I was trying to take. I'm afraid of venturing too far from the creek after what happened the last time."

He couldn't argue with that. At least it meant Sodia could learn from her mistakes. Still, he cautiously eyed the spikey-leafed plant that came dangerously close to his bare, broken leg as she pulled him through. The stinging plants spouted up through bushes and ferns, filling the underbrush with weeds covered in needles. Sodia had found a path through them, though Flynn imagined it was difficult to find in the darkness. With the rain still pouring through the treetops and the sun nearly below the horizon, he could barely see a few feet in front of him.

He thought he saw movement in the corner of his eye, and when he looked he saw a fern swaying as if something has quickly moved past it. Of course, with the rain pouring down it was equally likely that a large pool of water collecting above had just splashed to the ground and jarred it. Despite that rational explanation, he couldn't stop the prickling feeling creeping over him. Wasn't it odd that there would be a path through this thicket of painful plants? They hadn't had a path to follow since he fell from it, and animals wouldn't charge through here to make one because of th stings. So, where had the path come from?

His anxiety didn't lessen when he realized the path was veering _away_ from the creek. He didn't bother pointing this out to Sodia, because he knew her well enough to trust that she'd noticed. There wasn't anything they could do about, though. The path was too narrow to safely turn the stretcher around in the dark and rain without one or both getting wickedly stung.

Sodia stopped. "Sir, there's… a building."

Flynn took a second to realize what she'd said, because it seemed impossible at first. "A what?"

"An old building. Let me get closer so you can see." She pulled him forward until the nettles around the edges of the stretcher disappeared and they came out in a small, muddy clearing. Sodia shifted him around, but didn't set him on the ground so he could at least avoid the worst of the mud. He couldn't help but notice how her hands shook from carrying him without rest for so long.

He turned his attention from Sodia to the building. It was small and made of heavy grey stones, though it was hard to see them in some places thanks it the vines creeping over it. One thick pillar stood guard at the entrance, while its opposite lay horizontal in the mud, covered in moss. Between the pillar and the broken stump of a column was a single step and an empty doorway, beyond which was nothing but darkness.

Except… that wasn't quite true. There was something in there, something darker than darkness. The world narrowed and the mouth of the ruin grew, sucking Flynn in. His head spun and something roared in his ears. Flynn blinked quickly and shook his head, putting the world back to normal.

"Must be some sort of abandoned temple," Sodia said, oblivious to the dark presence emanating from the ruin. "In any case, it would make a good shelter from the rain." She started pulling him toward it.

"No," Flynn said quickly, and she stopped short. "We should move on."

She frowned at him. "Sir, we're not going to find another shelter like this."

"It's…" How could he explain to Sodia that this ruin was evil without sounding crazy? "I don't feel right about this building. I don't want to go inside."

Sodia visibly held in a frustrated sigh. "Sir, it's pouring rain, we're soaking wet, it's pitch black, and the ground is muddy. Inside is at least dry. I can't even see where the path through the nettles starts up again, _if_ it starts up again after this clearing."

"Yes, and isn't that weird? A thicket of nettles popping up and practically forcing us to come here?"

"Are you concerned about this… this monster of yours again?"

She didn't have to say it so condescendingly. "Have you never read a horror story? When the characters get mysteriously led to a dark, creepy, abandoned temple in the middle of nowhere, the ones who go inside are _not_ the smart ones!"

"I am aware of that. However, I am also familiar with basic first aid and I know that letting someone with a high fever sleep in the mud and freezing rain could easily kill them. If there's a monster in there, at least I can fight it. I can't fight pneumonia." She started moving again, dragging him closer to the dark entrance.

"Stop! I order you to stop."

She hesitated for a moment, but then kept moving. "You're not the commandant out here; you told me yourself. I'm sorry, but we need shelter and this is the best we've got."

Flynn didn't bother putting up a fight he knew he'd lose. Even if he wasn't too sick to move, he still couldn't walk unassisted. The stretcher bumped as she pulled him up the step, and then the darkness closed around him. Sodia set him down just inside, and headed further in to make sure it truly was empty. When she walked away, the darkness swallowed her and Flynn was left alone. At least, he wished he was alone. He couldn't shake the feeling that someone else was here, watching him.

He had to admit, it was nice to be out of the rain. He just wished it didn't come at the expense of spending the night in a creepy abandoned temple. Sodia returned and confirmed that the back room was also empty, and then held up a log. "Look what I found - dry wood! We can make a fire. Some of it is too long to be used, but there's enough to warm us up."

Flynn raised an eyebrow. "There was just dry firewood sitting around in here?"

She nodded and started piling it together, close enough to the door that the smoke could escape but far enough away that the rain couldn't reach it even if the wind changed.

"Too convenient." Flynn eyed the wood suspiciously. This whole set up freaked him out. Nettles to steer them away from the creek, a mysterious path leading straight here, perfectly timed rain to make them desperate for shelter, and now dry firewood conveniently inside. Flynn couldn't help but wonder if it would have been less blatant to make a cottage out of candy.

Sodia hesitated for only a moment before continuing to set up the fire. "I know it's suspicious, sir. Unfortunately, we don't have much choice. If you were healthy things might be different, but as it stands I simply cannot let you sleep in the rain, mud, and nettles. It would be devastating to your already fragile health."

He understood her reasoning, but that didn't mean he was happy with it. "Isn't this the same thing, though? You're making decisions for me based on what _you_ think is best for me."

She winced, and then struck match. By the time the light hit her face she'd regained her composure. "That may be so, sir," she said quietly. "Maybe that's just who I am. I'm not very good at following orders. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a knight."

"You've always followed mine before."

"Because I respected you and I felt you had orders worth following. You never gave me reason to disobey. Besides, I'm not really a knight anymore, am I? As soon as we get back to Zaphias, I'll be discharged."

Flynn didn't confirm or deny it, because he hadn't completely decided what to do with her yet.

She seemed to take his silence as confirmation. "So, it doesn't matter if I follow orders if I'm getting discharged anyway. I'm just going to do whatever I feel is necessary to get you out of this forest alive. You already hate me, so I can't possibly make it worse."

"All I ask is that you see things from my perspective. This temple gives me a bad feeling and I don't feel safe in here."

Sodia knelt to blow on the fire and encourage it to grow bigger. As the flame crept up the kindling, she said, "To be honest, sir… I feel it, too. It feels… old. Ancient, and angry."

He nodded quickly, which he wished he'd stop doing because he still had a headache. "Precisely. If you feel it, why were you willing to come in?"

"Because I would rather deal with an invisible bad feeling than the very real risk of you dying outside. I'm sorry, but getting your out of here alive is the only thing that matters to me, even if it means destroying any chance of you ever trusting me again."

Flynn sighed and closed his eyes. There was no point arguing with Sodia. He was too tired to fight, and it wasn't like he didn't see where she was coming from. He just wanted to go to sleep. "I don't feel like eating tonight."

"That's just a well, because we have no food."

He glanced to her. That was alright for him because his appetite was gone, but Sodia must be starving. "Will you be alright?"

"There isn't anything I can do about either way. The sooner you go to sleep, the sooner we can move on from here."

* * *

Flynn awoke when he heard footsteps. He slowly opened his eyes, wondering why it was so quiet. He had to think for a moment, and then realized the rain stopped. Their fire burned low, barely more than embers, casting a faint orange glow on Sodia's sleeping face. Wait, if Sodia was asleep, then who -

"That really you, Flynn?"

He had never whipped his head around so fast. "_Yuri_?"

Yuri picked at a nettle leaf stuck to his pant leg. "You know anyone else who would trek through that hellish thicket to find you?"

"Yuri… what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, of course." Yuri crossed the short distance to him and crouched next to him. "You didn't show up in Aurnion so we decided to come look for you. Seems like it was a good thing we did; you're a mess."

Flynn glanced down at himself. "I've certainly been better. Did you come alone?"

"The others are back by the creek. We weren't positive you'd come this way and we figured there was no reason for all of us to brave the nettles. Don't worry, we'll get you out of here soon."

"I'm glad to hear it. I can't wait to see my bedroom again." What he wouldn't give for everything to go back to normal. Except, it wouldn't be normal, would it? Sodia tried to kill Yuri. How could they ever go back to normal? He frowned, and then looked to Sodia's slumbering face. "Yuri… Sodia told me what happened at Zaude."

Yuri was silent for a moment, and then said, "So, what do you think?"

"I think I'd like to ask why you didn't tell me you had been the victim of an attempted murder."

Yuri frowned, and then looked to Sodia. "Let's go outside to talk. I don't want to wake her up. The rain's stopped, so it will be fine."

Flynn agreed immediately. Even though nothing had happened yet, being inside the temple gave him the creeps. He raised his arms and Yuri grabbed one wrist and one elbow to avoid the sprain. He pulled Flynn to his feet, and then Flynn wrapped his arm around Yuri's shoulder and held his right leg off the ground. Yuri helped Flynn hop along on his good leg until they were out of the dark temple. It was sore and exhausting, but Flynn was desperate to get out of that room so pushed himself forward. Outside, the night air was cold after lying so close to the fire, and his still-damp clothes didn't help. He shivered and then his foot landed in mud and he slipped.

"Whoa, careful!" Yuri caught him before he hit the ground and then half-dragged him to the fallen pillar to sit.

Flynn panted for air once he sat down and rested his hand on the smooth stone side. "Thanks."

"Any time."

"So, are you going to tell me why you kept this a secret from me?"

Yuri stood with his back to him, and folded his hands behind his head. "You've been stuck in the forest for a long time, haven't you?"

"Pardon?"

"It's been, what, two weeks?"

Flynn frowned. "About that, I think. You should ask Sodia; I lost a few days in delirium so I'm not entirely sure. As I was saying, about Sodia-"

"I like the forest."

Flynn was starting to get annoyed. He wanted to talk about Sodia before she woke up or they rejoined the others, but Yuri kept getting distracted. "That's nice, but-"

"It's so much simpler out here. Just trees and wildlife, as far as the eye can see. No humans to mess everything up. Well… usually. You and Sodia came trampling in here, after all."

Flynn shivered from the cold. His fingers, splayed on the cold stone pillar to help keep himself upright, started going numb. "What are you talking about?"

"People used to live here," Yuri said, glancing to the ruins. "Krityans."

"Did Judith tell you this?"

"They moved into the forest, hacking down the trees and burning the stumps to fertilize the soil. They kept expanding further into the forest, even when the Entelexeia told them not to. They were warned, but they didn't _listen_. You people never do."

Unease crept up Flynn's spine and an intense desire to run back to the warmth and dim light of their fire came over him. Running, of course, was not an option when he couldn't even walk. "Yuri… are you feeling ok? I don't understand what you're going on about. Maybe I should get Sodia." He scooted an inch or so along the pillar, closer to the light of the fire leaking from the temple doorway.

Yuri stepped between him and the door, finally facing Flynn. "Sodia? Hey… I have an idea." His face split into a grin, lips curling so far back Flynn could see all of his teeth. It had to be a trick of the faint light of the moon, but… his teeth appeared sharp. "You should _kill _Sodia."


	9. People of the Mind

**Chapter Nine: People of the Mind**

Flynn jerked back, wishing he could jump up and run the hell out of here. Yuri - although Flynn wasn't sure he should call him that - took a few more steps toward him, that awful grin never leaving his face. Flynn glanced to Sodia, still fast asleep inside the temple. As his eyes left Yuri, his friend's form… _changed_. He was Yuri when Flynn stared right at him, but when he saw him from the corner of his eye, all he could make out was a writhing mass of darkness and stretched, disproportionate limbs.

"What's wrong, Flynn?" 'Yuri' asked.

"You're not Yuri."

"I might as well be." He shrugged and the grin finally faded. "You humans are all the same anyway."

He couldn't overpower this… thing, whatever it was. He probably wouldn't have even been able to fight it if he was at full strength. Maybe it was his imagination, but the thin streams of moonlight that made it through the dripping trees seemed to bend away from it. All he could hope to do was talk to it. "So, you confirm you're not human, then?"

"Don't make me laugh."

"What are you, then? Some kind of Entelexeia?"

Its eyes - alarmingly identical to Yuri's - narrowed in a furious glare and it took another step closer to him. "You're so _petty. _Human? Krityan? Entelexeia? You must put everything into a familiar box, so you can organize it and catalogue it and destroy it."

"I don't want to destroy anything."

"Of course you do. That's all humans and Krityans ever come to this forest to do. Egothor Forest used to cover the entire western peninsula, did you know that?"

"I don't see what-"

"And then _you_ came, with your axes and torches. You needed space for houses, space for the plants you tamed and planted in unnatural rows, space for the animals you trained to serve you and not their natures. You hacked away and the whole forest burn, burn, _burned_ to the ground."

Flames seemed to flicker in its eyes and Flynn could see it in his mind, the fire spreading through the trees and wild animals fleeing in fear. He could almost feel the heat on his face and he knew it wasn't him putting these images in his head.

"Get back," Flynn hissed, reaching for his sword.

'Yuri' got there first. Just as Flynn started pulling it from his sheath, it grabbed the hilt and pulled, easily tearing the sword from Flynn's weakened grip. "Why do you want to fight me?" It waved the sword in Flynn's face. "Sodia is the one you should want to kill."

"No, I don't want to kill her." His eyes followed the sword, praying this thing wearing Yuri's face wouldn't feel the need to use it on him.

"Kill her. She deserves it. Slit her throat and let the blood feed the ground. No one will ever know. Leave her body to be eaten by mushrooms and when they find you, say she got killed by an eggbear."

Flynn slowly shook his head. "No, I won't do that."

"She betrayed you, didn't she? Broken promises. Lies. She deserves to die. She butchers the animals of the forest to feed her own hunger but leaves them only partially consumed. She wastes life and leaves carcasses scattered in her wake. Do us all a favour and let her pay back for all that she's taken." Its wide grey eyes were so familiar yet at the same time, disturbingly alien. "We both want her dead - admit it."

"No," Flynn said, as firmly as he could. "I do not want Sodia dead."

'Yuri' glared at him, and then in a flash the alien fury vanished and its eyes filled with pain. "Why not, Flynn?" It backed up, dropped the sword, and clutched its stomach. "Why won't you punish her for what she did to me?" Thick blood stuck to its hands when it pulled them away. Deep red spread across its abdomen and dripped from its hands. "Don't you care, Flynn?" Its voice was so awfully identical to Yuri's. "She tried to kill me. Why won't you kill her!?" It reached Flynn in two steps and gripped the front of his jacket, jerking him forward until their noses almost touched. "You know you want to," it whispered with breath that reeked of blood.

"I don't." The blood on the thing's hands soaked into Flynn's jacket.

"Why not?!" It shook him, and Flynn gritted his teeth as his bruised ribs ached and his head spun.

"I don't want her dead!"

"You're pathetic! What kind of commandant is afraid to carry out justice?!"

"Murdering Sodia wouldn't be justice." He panted for breath and slumped back. With his strength gone, the bloodied hands gripping his jacket were the only thing keep him from falling backward.

"But what if she had actually killed me?"

"She didn't." He struggled to keep his neck steady so he could meet this thing's eyes, even though looking into Yuri's face killed him. "She made a judgement call. She saw her chance to get rid of what she thought was a threat and took it. Wouldn't you have done the same?" He almost kicked himself for adding the last part, because this was _not_ Yuri, and he shouldn't address it as such.

"Then kill me, too!" It grinned again, teeth shockingly white. They were normal when Flynn looked directly at them, but if he glanced away, they turned sharp in his peripheral vision.

"I already decided not to punish you - I mean, Yuri - for Ragou and Cumore, and he actually succeeded at murdering them."

"So what?"

"So, I can't pick and choose who I punish. What Sodia did was wrong, yes, but I know she didn't do it out of malice, just like I know Yuri thought his actions were justified by circumstance, too." He didn't know what he wanted to do with Sodia, but he knew he couldn't kill her, or even sentence her to execution. All the swirling, confused thoughts in his mind solidified now that he suddenly found himself debating it. "I also know that she has come to truly regret her actions, and that she has gotten over the hero-worship that led her to make that decision in the first place. Therefore, I know this isn't something she's going to do again."

"She forced you into the temple, didn't she?"

"But she was right about that. Leaving me out in the rain in my condition would likely have been deadly."

"You're weak." It lifted Flynn by the front of his jacket and tossed him to the ground.

He smashed into the mud while bolts of agony coursed through his leg. He gasped for breath while the thing stood over him, glaring in fury.

"You cling to reason and order. Petty human ideas you invented to try to tame the wilderness. You're nothing more than a wild animal that tries to pretend it's something more. Kill her and take the vengeance you deserve, you pathetic naked monkey!"

His sword was just out of reach. He stretched his left hand toward it -

'Yuri' dropped on him, its hands going straight for his throat. "If you won't even get rid of that bloodstained woman, I'll just get rid of you, too," it hissed.

Its thumbs dug into his windpipe, making Flynn cough and choke. Flynn gripped its wrists, not even caring that this hurt his own sprain if it meant getting more air. He couldn't breathe. The monster with Yuri's face wouldn't stop grinning and Flynn's arms fell limp at his side. He'd prepared himself to die out here, but certainly not like this.

"Don't be scared. Dying isn't the end. Your body will decompose and fertilize the soil and new life will grow from it. The forest will thrive off your death, just as your ancestors thrived off the death of the forest."

Purple spots danced before his eyes and he squeezed them shut. If he was going to die here, he didn't want to go out staring into Yuri's cruel face. This thing wasn't his friend and he didn't want it to be the last thing he saw.

The grip loosened. "Look at me!" it growled.

He opened his eyes again and the image of Yuri flicked back into view half a second later as the grip tightened. Flynn didn't know what was going on, but he noticed a pattern and slammed his eyes shut again. The fingers around his throat loosened and Flynn imagined wispy black shadows struggling to maintain form without anyone to hold its image in their mind. Even the weight pinning him down lightened, and Flynn summoned every last dreg of strength and threw the monster off him. As soon as the weight was gone, he opened his eyes and reached for his sword. He grabbed the fallen pillar in his other hand and pulled himself up, too busy making sure 'Yuri' stayed back to care that this made his wrist burn in pain.

"Stay back!" He held the sword out, wishing he could keep it level. Talking hurt his bruised throat.

The monster glared at him and crawled forward, but Flynn waved his sword. "You're solid enough in this form, huh? I can't hurt you if you're a shadow, but you can't hurt me, either."

"How _dare_ you?" it hissed. Yuri's hair fell across its face as it crawled toward him. It didn't seem to care that the hair fell across its eyes, and why should it? The image of Yuri was just a hollow shell to give it physical form; it could probably 'see' from anywhere. "You come here, to _my_ home, and dare to strike me?"

The sword tip wobbled. Flynn barely had the strength to keep it raised, but he set his jaw and defiantly stared back at the feral eyes as they leered at him with his best friend's face. "Sorry, but I'm not ready to die out here. I still have too much work to accomplish."

Yuri's lips curled in a sneer that turned into a growl. Flynn braced himself, ready for it to pounce.

"Commandant?"

Flynn jumped at the sudden voice and snapped his neck around to see Sodia standing on the step, watching him with concern. "Stay back!"

"Commandant, what is going on? Stay back from what?"

"What do you mean, 'from what'? This thing, of-" he looked back, but the thing was gone. "…Course."

Sodia took a few hesitant steps toward him. "Sir… there's nothing there."

"It was there just a second ago." His head spun as he wildly examined the clearing, certain he'd see some sign of the monster lurking behind a tree. His heart still pounded even though he didn't see a thing.

Sodia cautiously approached him while Flynn let his arm drop. "There's no one else here, sir."

"I was just talking to it."

Sodia frowned. "I woke up when I heard you shout just now. It sounded like you were talking to someone, but when I looked, you were alone."

He gaped at her. He knew Sodia hadn't seen the shadow any of the other times, but that had just been a coincidence of never being in the right place at the right time. But it had been _right here._ How could she have missed it? "No… the monster was here. It took Yuri's form and it nearly strangled me to death." His hand went to his throat, but it dawned on him that it didn't hurt anymore. A quick glance at his chest showed that the bloodstains were gone as well.

Sodia crouched and peered at his neck. "It doesn't look like anyone tried to strangle you, sir. Your throat is fine. Does it feel ok?"

"It… yes." His hand fell to his lap. "But it shouldn't." A thought struck him and he said, "If I was the only one here, how did I get out here? I can't walk."

"I was wondering that myself." She picked up a thick wooden pole on the ground near the pillar. "This is a long branch I remember dragging over with the rest of the firewood I found inside. You must have used it as a crutch."

Flynn stared at it. He didn't remember carrying it outside with him. Yuri had been the one to help him. "But…"

Sodia rested her hands on his shoulders. "Commandant, you have a very high fever. It's frying your brain and making it see things that aren't really there. I know it can be scary, but there's really nothing to fear."

"That didn't feel like a hallucination."

"I know, but you're not healthy enough to accurately determine that. Let's just get you back inside and cleaned up; you're covered in mud."

"I… I guess so."

Still heavily confused, Flynn let Sodia pull him up and wrap his arm around her shoulders. They took slow steps, letting Flynn awkwardly hop along, back to the shelter of the abandoned temple. As they went, Flynn couldn't shake the physical memory that he had just done this with someone else.

* * *

Flynn barely gotten any sleep last night, because every time he closed his eyes he saw a warped and monstrous version of Yuri's face grinning at him. He spent the night lying close to the fire to warm up, expecting the thing to emerge as soon as he let his guard down. He eventually passed out, but his dreams were plagued by shadows.

The next morning, the rain had moved on and the sun dawned bright and sunny. Birds chirped to celebrate the end of rain and lingering water dripped slowly from lush green leaves. In the warm daylight, even the nettles didn't look too bad. The sun poured through the open doorway of the temple, filling the room with light. Now that was bright, it was easy to imagine some ancient people coming her to worship a long-forgotten god. The chipped walls showed the remnants of murals, but they were too decayed and covered in moss to make out.

"Maybe we should stay here, sir," Sodia said, sitting on the step and looking out at the forest. "It's a decent shelter, and not too far from the creek to get water. We can rest here until your fever subsides."

Flynn considered this, and it did sound appealing. He wasn't even the one who had to do all the walking, and he was still exhausted from travelling. In the light, the temple seemed cozy and inviting, but he couldn't shake the memories of what it had been like in the dark. What if that… that _thing_ came back tonight? Although, the farther he got from the night, the less real it seemed. According to Sodia he'd tried to have a conversation with a tree a couple of days ago, so this wasn't entirely unprecedented. There were no footsteps in the mud except his own, and there wasn't a speck of blood or a hint of bruise on him to indicate a scuffle. His memories of the event had that unfocused quality of when he couldn't remember if a thing had actually happened or if it had been a dream.

Still… this place gave him the creeps at night. He didn't want to tell Sodia that was his main reason, because he didn't want to be told he was hallucinating again. Mostly, this was because he wasn't sure he _wasn't_. After all, how would that thing know what Yuri looked like to wear his face so accurately? It didn't make sense unless it came from Flynn's head. It was a confusing mess, so he said, "I really don't think this illness is going to get better without medical intervention."

Sodia sighed. "You're probably right."

"Eat breakfast and then we can find a path back to the creek."

Sodia stood up and leaned against the doorway. "No point sticking around. We don't have any food, anyway. Not unless we want to eat the nettles."

Flynn winced at the mere thought of putting those spikey things in his mouth. "No, thank you."

Sodia rolled up her sleeping mat and said, "They are edible, you know. My Great-Aunt Ethel swears by nettle tea to help with her arthritis."

"Really?" Flynn looked to the thorny plants, trying to imagine how a plant that could sting you an inject painful chemicals could possibly help with anything.

Sodia nodded and scattered the remains of their fire to make sure it wouldn't start a forest fire. "When you think about it, all medical remedies are made from things found in nature. Auntie Ethel just likes to get things from the source."

"That seems like a big hassle."

"Probably."

"Are you ready to go? How do you feel today, sir?"

"Awful." He hadn't raised his head yet because he didn't think he had the strength to. Sodia watched him with worry, knowing that if he was straight-up admitting he was in bad shape, it must be serious. Flynn felt bad for worrying her, but he also wanted to pass out again so this throbbing in his abdomen, head, leg, and pretty much every other part of him to varying degrees, would go away.

"I'm sorry to hear that. But I found the path through the nettles, so hopefully it will lead us back to the creek."

"Good." Sodia raised the stretcher and started their journey, and Flynn promptly fell back asleep.

* * *

Flynn woke up when he smelled smoke. _My house is on fire!_ He tried to bolt upright so he could escape but didn't get any farther then raising his neck a centimetre or two and then dropping it. That was enough of a reminder that he was sick, which reminded him that he was in the forest.

With great effort, he pried open his eyes and turned his head to see Sodia digging in her pack next to a fire. He tried to say her name but it came out more like, "Shoda…"

She paused and glanced over. "Oh, you're awake."

"Whas… go' on?"

"I'm going to heal you, sir."

His look of confusion saved him the trouble of asking for an explanation.

"I thought about what I said earlier, about the nettles being a cure for arthritis, and it occurred to me that all the ingredients needed to synthesize a Cure Bottle can be found in the forest. All I need is a minicoid mushroom, resin from a grasshopper, and a leaf from a filifolia bud."

"No." It was all he get his lips to say, when what he really wanted to get out was, 'Have you lost your mind? You're going to go _looking_ for monsters to fight?'

Sodia clearly understand that, because she said, "It's the only way to heal your infection, sir. After getting soaked in the rain and having a severe delirium episode last night, your condition today has deteriorated rapidly. I'm worried you might not last more than a few days."

"Don't." _Don't get yourself killed on my account._

She pulled out their last barrier and set it on the ground. "I thought I was powerless to save your life once before, and I'm not going to fall into that despair again. After what I did at Zaude, giving everything to protect you is the least I can do." She cracked the barrier open, letting the fumes mist out. It didn't smell too bad to humans, but it would repel monsters. "I made a fire to keep you warm. It's about noon now, and hopefully I'll be back by the time it gets dark. The barrier will keep monsters away while I'm not here to fight them."

"But…" He didn't want her to get hurt trying to save him. His life wasn't worth more than hers just because he had a higher title, and the fact that she still didn't seem to understand that, even though she said she no longer idolized him, infuriated him. "'M nod… worth… more."

She smiled slightly. "I'm not doing this because you're the commandant, sir. I'm doing it because you're you. You would do the same for Yuri Lowell, would you not?"

"But… he's…"

She crouched at his side and squeezed his pale hand. "I care about you too much to watch you waste away and do nothing. It will be alright, sir. I'll come back with medicine and then you'll feel better."

He was nervous about being left alone. He could already feel himself hovering on the threshold of lucidity and the idea of being totally alone while hallucinating and delirious was terrifying. He tried to ask her to stay, but his face felt heavy and his lips partially numb. The words came out slurred and garbled and Sodia eyed him with confusion.

"I'll be back soon, sir. You'll be alright." She gave his hand one last squeeze and then stood up. She picked up her pack, double-checked she had her sword, and then marched out of Flynn's view.

All he heard was the fire crackling. The barrier Sodia had set up would keep the monsters away, but would it keep out the one Flynn was most concerned about? Especially now that it was evening… no, wait, Sodia had said it was noon. It certainly felt like evening, but that was probably a side effect of his blurry mind. The shadow never came out during the day… assuming it was real.

His mind drifted and he scooted closer to the fire. He didn't know how much time passed as he faded in and out of consciousness. Thoughts of Sodia swirled through his head as colourful lights danced above his vision. The rustling of trees blurred together with the trickling creek and rushed in his ears, and a shiny blue dragonfly flew past his face.

"You know, Flynn," the dragonfly said as it perched on a rock, "you're going to have to figure out what to do about Sodia soon."

"I still have time," Flynn replied. "It will be at least a week until we get back to Zaphias, and that assumes I don't die before that." He didn't think his ability to vocalize coherently had significantly improved since garbling at Sodia, but the dragonfly understood him clearly.

"You should figure this out now," the dragonfly said. "Don't put it off. That's how you end up with massive stacks of paperwork, because you leave the hard things for last and then rush through them."

Flynn glared at the iridescent bug. "How do you know about that?"

"You're talking to a dragonfly and that's your first question?"

Flynn thought about this for a second. "You have a point."

"It shouldn't take too long to figure out. It's clear you have to discharge her and prosecute her for attempted murder."

"Well… I suppose so."

"Don't listen to him!" came a new voice. Flynn wearily turned his head and saw a thin sapling shaking its branches. "What does a dragonfly know? Don't take life advice from a creature that only lives twenty-four hours."

The dragonfly took off and flew in angry circles around the tree. "Yeah, well at least I've seen more of the world than just what's in my immediate vicinity!"

"Please stop fighting," Flynn said.

"I'm trying to be reasonable," the tree said, flicking the dragonfly away with one of its branches. "Sodia has always proven herself to be a valuable and competent knight. It would be foolish to throw such a useful resource away due to a single mistake."

"_Useful_?" The dragonfly's eyes were not conducive to rolling, so it rolled its entire head to get its condescension across. "Yeah, she's really useful if you want someone who can murder your pals."

"She made a mistake," the tree said. "She realized on her own that it was a mistake and she seeks to atone for that. What good will come from punishing her? She's already beating herself up, and in jail she can't help anybody."

"You both have good points," Flynn said thoughtfully. "Although, why am I even talking to you? You're hallucinations."

The dragonfly crossed its little legs indignantly. "That doesn't mean we don't have good advice. Clearly you need it if you're even considering letting that almost-murderer get off."

"You let Yuri off," the tree pointed out. "And he was a successful murderer."

"But his victims deserved it!" The dragonfly buzzed in tight circles.

The tree shrugged its branches. "So he thought. Sodia thought her attempt was justified at the time, too."

"She committed a crime," the dragonfly insisted. "Those who commit crimes must be punished according to the laws of the empire."

Flynn frowned. "You don't know the laws of the empire. You're a dragonfly."

"I seem to know them more than you, Mr. 'Let's Let the Murderer Walk Free'."

"What's the point in pressing charges?" the tree said. "Sodia is a noble. Courts won't give her much punishment for attacking a known criminal from the lower quarter. She'll end up discharged from the knights with a slap on the wrist and then have nothing to do but sit around her family mansion for the rest of her life. What good would that do?"

Flynn looked to the dragonfly. "She's right, you know."

The dragonfly soared straight for him and flew in tight circles above his face. "But it was _Yuri_. She tried to kill your _best friend!"_

"Who she tried to kill shouldn't matter!" the tree protested, waving its branches to get attention. "A crime doesn't suddenly become more reprehensible when the enforcer knows the victim. That kind of thinking is what got Ragou and Cumore off, because their crimes were against people who didn't matter in the Council's eyes."

Flynn tried to follow the dragonfly's tight spirals with his eyes. "What do you have to say to that? She's right. In order to be a just leader I need to consider how I would react to this situation of the victim was a stranger."

"Ok, fine!" the dragonfly said with a voice full of buzzing. "Then treat Sodia like a stranger, too, and judge without considering your personal attachment to her."

"Yes, do," the tree said. "Judge based on her military record, her unprompted confession and admission of guilt, and genuine regret for her actions. What's the point in punishing somethone when they already regret their actions and only wish to work to atone them?"

"You have to punish the guilty," the dragonfly said. "Yuri would agree. His guild is all about punishing the unjust! That's what justice is - punishing the guilty."

The tree shook, like it was shaking its head. "No, the important part of justice is protecting the innocent. Sodia is not a danger to the innocent, and locking her up or kicking her out of the knights will prevent her from protecting others."

Flynn's face screwed up with confusion. "I don't know… you both have some really good points."

"I'm right!" the dragonfly insisted. It flew to the tree and spun in circles around it, chanting, "I'm right, I'm right, I'm right!"

"No you're not!" The tree swatted at it with its branches. "You're not right! Shut up! You're so annoying!"

Flynn watched them in bafflement, still not sure what to do. He didn't know if he wanted to take advice from a tree or a dragonfly anyway, especially when he was eighty percent sure he was hallucinating. He took a deep breath and wished they'd go away. He was too tired to deal with this crap.

"Flynn…"

This voice was new, and kicked off another shiver in surprise. He… he knew that voice, even though he hadn't heard it in over ten years. He slowly turned his head, barely daring to hope who he would see. "Mom…?"

There she was, with her tired eyes and messily tied-back hair. She knelt, her frayed skirt pressing into the dirt. "Oh, sweetheart, you're so sick. You poor thing." She ran her fingers through his hair, just like she always did.

Flynn let himself relax. She was probably a hallucination, too, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He let out a deep sigh with a content smile. "I missed you, Mom." He could let himself believe the fingers playing through his messy hair, absently trying to flatten it, weren't real.

"Are you having a fight with one of your friends again, sweetheart?"

"Um… sort of."

She frowned reproachfully. "What did I tell you about getting into fights, young man?"

Flynn winced on instinct. "S-sorry, Mom. It's complicated."

"I'm sure it is. You and Yuri are always getting into fights."

His smile slipped away. "I don't know what to do, Mom. The dragonfly is right, and the fact is that Sodia committed a crime and should be punished accordingly. But, the tree is also right and punishing her would just be a gesture and no real good would come of it."

"I can't tell you what to do. Just remember what I've always told you: if you don't know what action to take, figure out which one will do the most good for the most people." She smiled and cupped his cheek. "But whatever you choose, I'm sure things will work out. I'm very proud of you, Flynn."

Tears welled up in his eyes. "Mom…"

"Now, you get to bed. I'll shut up that bug and the tree and you sleep this sickness off."

"Yeah… thanks, Mom."

She leaned over and kissed his forehead, while hairs that escaped her bun tickled his cheeks. "I love you, sweetheart. You'll be fine." After a final attempt to flatten his hair, she rose to her feet. Her body faded into translucence, and then with one last smile, she disappeared.


	10. Found

**Chapter Ten: Found**

It hadn't been too difficult to gather the supplies she needed. None of the monsters were particularly challenging, although admittedly the lack of food had slowed her down. Sodia's stomach hadn't stopped growling for hours and she thought she was going to go crazy if she didn't get some food soon. Thankfully, Minicoids were edible, although not very tasty.

When she'd gathered all the ingredients, crushed them together with her blade and then boiled them until they merged into a chunky, goopy stew, she declared herself done. It was far from a professional job and she doubted it would be quite as potent as a Cure Bottle made by a professional, but if it could just clear up Flynn's infection she would be happy. Her impromptu stew complete, she crawled over to Flynn to wake him up.

"Sir…" she gently shook his shoulder. "Sir, the medicine is ready. You should wake up and take it." She felt bad for waking him up, but she really didn't want him to go another minute without the cure. He was sweating and shivering at the same time, his face was whiter than paper and he'd lost so much weight she would have easily been able to piggy-back him up the cliff now.

Flynn slowly opened his eyes. "Mom…" he mumbled, staring at her with a faint smile.

"Um… no, sir, it's me. Sodia."

"No… you're Mom."

"I am not your mother, sir." She poured the gooey mixture into a cup and said, "Let me help you sit up so you can take it." She wrapped one arm under his shoulders and easily lifted his skeletal frame.

Once she lifted him, Flynn fell against her and draped his arms around her shoulders, pressing his face into her neck. Sodia's heart fluttered at the unexpected contact, and Flynn mumbled, "Don't go, Mom… I miss you."

Sodia sat frozen. Flynn was clearly caught in some feverish delusion and she wasn't sure how to handle that. She set the cup of medicine on the ground and used that hand to gently pry Flynn's arm loose. "Sir, this is Sodia. Your mother has been dead for over a decade."

Flynn dug his face deeper against her. "Don't say that… I can't lose you."

She sighed, realizing she might as well get this over with until Flynn went back to sleep. She patted his elbow and said, "Um, yes… Flynn. I'm sorry. You need to drink this now, alright? It will make you feel better."

He finally pulled back and she held the cup to his mouth and slowly poured the contents in. He made a face when he swallowed, but thankfully didn't spit it out. "Sorry, s- I mean… Flynn. I know it doesn't taste very good, but it will heal your infection, hopefully."

"If you say so," he groaned, and slumped against her supportive arm.

She easily laid him back on the stretcher. "Alright, just go back to sleep now. You'll feel better when you wake up." She hoped.

"Yeah, ok…" He closed his eyes. "Mom… thanks for helping me earlier."

"You're welcome. Now go to sleep."

He didn't respond, so she crawled back to her side of the fire and set about cutting up the rest of the Minicoid for her supper. The barrier would still work for the rest of the night, so for the first time in what felt like ages, she could sleep easy.

* * *

Flynn sat sideways by the fire with his broken leg stretched out. He supposed he should be grateful that his sprained wrist had healed enough that he could at least hold a stick with his right hand, even he had to rest it on his left knee for support. On the end of the stick was a chunk of Minicoid he was roasting over the fire. When he woke up this morning, the fire was little more than a few embers, but he'd added more logs and kindling and coaxed it back to life so he could cook some breakfast.

He needed breakfast, because he was ravenous. For the first time in over a week he had a clear head and a normal body temperature, and his appetite came back with a vengeance. He'd been munching on toasted mushroom since he woke up and it still felt like there was a monster in his stomach clawing at the walls and growling with impatience. The difference in his body from the last time he'd been awake was immeasurable. The Cure Bottle - though it was more like a Cure Cup - had wiped out the infection on his hip, cooled down his fever, diffused the ache in his gut, and cleared all the gunk from his brain. Lingering aches and painless red spots were all the remained, and hopefully they'd die down within a day or so. All his injuries from the fall still hurt, but without a deathly illness backing them up it was easy to deal with in comparison.

He was eating his toasted mushroom when Sodia woke up. She noticed the fire and sat up in surprise, wide awake in seconds. "Sir? How do you feel?"

Flynn finished chewing and swallowed before nodding. "I feel fantastic." He used his right hand to stabilize the giant mushroom and ripped off another piece, and winced slightly as the movement rocked his wrist. He shrugged and added, "Well, maybe not fantastic, but better than before."

"I'm glad to hear that." She smiled and shifted her legs to sit comfortably.

After spearing another piece of mushroom and sticking it over the fire, he said, "Oh! Forgive me, I should have offered this to you earlier." He pushed the remaining Minicoid toward her. "You must be hungry."

She eyed it, chewed on her lip for a few seconds, and then pulled it toward her. "I'll just have a little. I ate last night, and I know you must be starving now that your fever broke."

Flynn wanted to argue to split it equally, but the rampaging beast in his stomach overpowered his sense of chivalry and he agreed. "I can't thank you enough for going to the trouble of getting this cure."

"You don't need to thank me, sir. I only have a couple more weeks of being your subordinate, so I might as well save your butt as much as possible during this time, right?" She tried to laugh it off as a joke, though her heart wasn't in it.

Flynn watched his mushroom and carefully rotated it. "Sodia… we need to talk. About Zaude."

She swallowed. "Yes, sir."

When he woke up this morning, Flynn had finally known what he wanted to do with Sodia. If anyone asked how he came to this conclusion, he would certainly leave out the part with the talking trees and hallucinations of his mother, but he couldn't deny that seeing his inner turmoil played out like that had helped him figure it out. "I am glad you told me yourself. I realize it must have taken a lot of bravery to admit that to me."

She managed to raise her face and meet his eyes.

"However…"

Her face tightened.

"I cannot ignore that what you did. You committed a serious crime against Yuri and this was an enormous breach of my trust."

"I understand, sir." Her voice was so soft he barely heard it.

"Despite all that… I am not going to press charges."

Her mouth fell open and her eyes went wide. "You're… forgiving me?"

"No, I'm not forgiving you. Attempting to kill a civilian who was not presently threatening you is an unforgivable crime. More personally, Yuri is my closest friend and I cannot forgive an attempt on his life. However, I am choosing to work past that. You regret your actions, do you not?"

She leaned forward slightly. "I do, sir." Her eyes filled with so much sincerity it practically spilled over.

Flynn nodded. "Right. I don't see what advantage pressing charges would do. My mother said to choose the option that did the most good for the most people, and I cannot think of anyone who would gain anything from incarcerating you."

It would be different if the victim of her actions cried out for justice, but since Yuri had never bothered mentioning it, he doubted Yuri desperately wanted to see Sodia behind bars. It came down to the debate between the tree and the dragonfly. Was the purpose of justice to punish the guilty, or to protect the innocent? If he had to decide… Flynn would always choose protecting the innocent over anything else. Typically the two went together, so that by punishing guilty parties, innocents were protected. That wasn't the case in this situation, though. Punishing Sodia wouldn't help anyone, and since she already sincerely regretted her actions it wasn't as if she needed to be taught a lesson. He still struggled sometimes to figure out where the line between right and wrong was now that he finally realized justice wasn't a black and white issue, but he felt in his heart that Sodia was not a criminal. She was a good person who had made a terrible mistake, and giving her the chance to work hard and atone for her crime would do the world more good than kicking her out of the knights.

Flynn looked to Sodia's eyes, finding himself pleased that she was able to meet them. "I'm not letting you off without punishment, but think of your punishment as… community service. Work hard and be the best knight you can be. Help people, protect the innocent, and strive to make the empire a happier place. Don't go off on your own if you ever disagree with my orders; confront me and state your reasons for disagreeing. I don't care that it's nominally against protocol to openly disagree with your superiors. I want you to argue with me if you think I'm making a mistake. We said we would work together to change this country, didn't we?"

Sodia seemed to be struggling to hold in tears. "Sir, you… you're giving me another chance? You're actually letting me stay in the Knights?"

"Not just in the Knights. You are going to continue working directly under me, so that I can keep an eye on you and ensure you never stray from the path again. I'm giving you a second chance, but it will be your _last_ chance. If you do anything like this again, I _will_ court-martial you."

"Thank you, sir. Really, I - I can't thank you enough. I never dreamed I would still be able to be a knight after telling you the truth."

"I know," he said solemnly. "And that's part of why I'm doing this. You told me the truth about Zaude believing it would result in a court-martial or worse, but you told me anyway because you felt it was the right thing to do. Additionally, you went to huge lengths to save my life over the past week, at great personal cost. You did this knowing that getting me back to Zaphias alive most likely meant forfeiting your career and life's ambition. Had you left me to die, no one would ever know and your future would not be jeopardized."

Sodia stared in shock. The idea of leaving Flynn to die to prevent him from pressing charges when they got home had clearly never even crossed her mind. She'd even gone out of her way to hunt down the monsters to create a Cure Bottle.

"I will never forget your mercy, sir." She tightly folded her hands together. "I will do whatever it takes to atone for my sin. I'll support you until my dying day."

The intensity of her eyes actually scared Flynn a little, but he appreciated the sentiment. "I know you will. And… in the interest of being fair, I have a confession of my own I ought to tell you." He paused to eat he piece of mushroom while Sodia watched in confusion.

"What is it, sir?"

He swallowed and then speared another piece of mushroom. "A little while ago, you asked me about Cumore's death. I avoided the question. I've never been entirely honest with you, or anyone else, about the exact nature of his demise. If I expect honesty from you, it's only fair to show you the same courtesy." After all, it had factored into his decision to show Sodia leniency. He'd forgiven Yuri for worse. "The truth is that Yuri Lowell was responsible for the deaths of both Captain Cumore and Magistrate Ragou." He wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that she didn't show an ounce of surprise. Frowning, he said, "Did you know?"

She shrugged slightly. "I had my suspicions."

He nodded, not surprised. He didn't hire stupid knights, after all. "When Yuri heard that those men had been let off despite their crimes, he took it upon himself to punish them and to prevent them from continuing to harm innocents. To be honest, I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about his actions, but ultimately I let him off for the same reasons I'm showing leniency to you. I trust that he is a good person, and I know that he is not a danger to innocent lives."

"I see… I can't say I'm surprised, and this definitely doesn't raise my opinion of him. Nevertheless, it would be hypocritical of me to pass judgement in light of my own crime."

"There are still those in the Council who would press charges the instant they thought they found a culprit for Ragou and Cumore's murders, and there is little I can do for Yuri if charges are pressed, considering he is in fact guilty. Currently, only myself, Yuri's companions, and now yourself know the truth and I ask that you keep it that way."

She nodded firmly. "Of course, sir. I swear I will not tell a soul."

"Good. I trust you." He pulled the mushroom out of the fire and ate it.

"I will never again give you reason to doubt me, sir."

* * *

For the rest of the day, they hiked. Well, Sodia hiked. Flynn lay in his stretcher and cursed the fragile nature of bones that enabled them to snap. They didn't stop for lunch because there was nothing to eat, and by the time evening rolled around Flynn almost missed being sick because at least he hadn't been hungry. When they finally stopped for the night, Sodia gathered wood and then left Flynn to set up a fire while she tried to find something to eat. Flynn was a bit concerned that they only had a couple of matches left. It had been a while since he'd needed to start a fire without matches or at least a flint, and only vaguely remembered how to do it.

Sodia returned half an hour later with an armful of green stuff. "Here we go," she said, laying them out on the ground. "Delicious."

"Those look like weeds," Flynn said, poking the tiny fire and urging it to grow up big and strong.

Sodia sighed and plopped on her mat. "They _are_ weeds, but they're edible. Probably don't taste very good, though."

"I'll take anything." He had never been this starving before, not even during his and Yuri's first weeks on the street when they were still trying to figure out how to live. He picked up a dandelion and twirled it between his fingers. He'd trampled dandelions under his feet and never considered them a potential food source, but he was too hungry to be picky. He felt hollow and knew his bout of illness had definitely left him worse for wear. He needed to eat a lot to get his strength back, but that wasn't an option. Desperate for sustenance, he popped the weed in his mouth. Biting down on the stem released an awful bitter juice that made him grimace, so he swallowed fast. Sodia was watching him, so he forced a smile and said, "Yum."

"It's awful, isn't it?"

The smile dropped. "I'd say it's the Cumore of food."

She sighed and picked up a leafy stalk. "Sorry. I can't believe I'm feeding the commandant dandelions…."

"No, I appreciate the effort." He picked up another weed to prove this. There were still dandelions left, but he hoped at least some of these things would taste slightly better. "We've got to eat to survive, after all."

Sodia chewed on her own weed and tried to hide a grimace. "It's better than nothing. Besides, we're knights. We can handle awful food. We got through the cafeteria at the Knight Academy, didn't we?"

Flynn quickly swallowed his bite - he didn't want to let it linger in his mouth any longer than necessary - and laughed. "Actually… I didn't mind that food at all."

"Really?"

"You know, we all wore the same uniforms, but you could always tell which students were from the lower quarter. They were the only ones who never complained about the taste or portion sizes. As far as Yuri and I were concerned, getting three square meals a day and all we had to do to earn it was go to class and train was a dream come true."

"Oh…" she thoughtfully chewed on the tough stalk. "I never considered that perspective. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. You're right - in retrospect, the food was objectively awful. We were just too excited to actually have consistent meals to pay attention to that." He eyed the pile of weeds and selected one with small, round leaves and tiny yellow flowers. Would this one taste alright? Seconds after putting it in his mouth, he winced and coughed.

"Are you alright?"

He swallowed quickly and then took a drink. "Sour," he wheezed. After clearing the taste from his mouth, he said, "To be honest, the promise of food is part of why I became a knight. I know that sounds petty."

Her eyes went wide. "Really? It was… food?"

"Oh, I'd wanted to be a knight since I was a little kid. But, after my dad died I went through a phase of not wanting anything to do with the Knights. My mother encouraged that, I think because she was afraid she'd lose her son the same way she lost her husband."

"What changed?"

"It was after she died. Yuri and I were starving and then one day he came home with a poster encouraging youths to join the Knights. He pointed out that the Academy was free to attend and provided room and board. Yuri had been itching to join the Knights as long as I had, and during my period of not wanting to be a knight he never stopped pestering me about it. He got to me when I was particularly hungry, and I agreed it seemed like a good idea. With the plan in mind to go to the Academy as soon as we turned sixteen, I started getting into the Knights again and by the time we were finally old enough to go, I think I was even more passionate about it than Yuri. But yes, at the end of the day it was the promise of free food that got me to become a knight."

"Huh." She grabbed a dandelion, and Flynn silently pitied her. "Just think about how differently life would have turned out if it was, say, a blacksmith's shop offering free food to apprentices."

"Heh. You'd be riding around on my very own horseshoes by now." Flynn had given up on finding a weed that actually tasted good, so he shovelled them in his mouth as fast as possible and tried to get as many nutrients as he could with as little taste. "Why did you become a knight? Given your status, I'm assuming it wasn't the food."

"No, it wasn't the food." Her grimace told Flynn she had fully experienced the joy that was dandelions. "It was… I told you that my family left our hometown during the Great War, correct?"

He nodded. "You said the barrier failed, so the town was abandoned."

"Right. Well, we left in a rush. We had the resources to just pack our things in a carriage and go. Many of the townsfolk, however, could not. They had nowhere to go, not enough supplies to live off during travel, or no means of transportation other than to brave the roads and monsters. A great many of them died." She looked down with heavy eyes. "I believe nobles have a duty to defend their vassals. The relationship between nobles and commoners should not be a one-way street. Commoners are supposed to pay taxes and tribute to nobles in return for protection and governance, but it seems that these days, most nobles have forgotten that and expect commoners to pay them taxes and receive nothing in return. My father was the magistrate of that town, but he abandoned them. I was furious with him for allowing our people to be killed, but the rest of my family scoffed at me for referring to them as 'our people'."

She grabbed a plant and viciously bit into its stem. "Hardly any nobles accept responsibility in return for their wealth or power, and that's not right. There's no justice in the system. I knew I would never inherit my father's power because I have older brothers, so I joined the Knights because I thought it was my best chance of finding a way to help people."

"That's an interesting perspective on nobility." They were almost out of weeds, and Flynn had mixed feelings on this. On one hand, they were disgusting, but on the other, he was still starving. "I admit that coming from the lower quarter I have a gut reaction to distrust nobles. Growing up, I was always told nobles were leeches who lived off commoner's backs."

"Hmph. Most of them are, these days. I don't have much hope of reforming the entire institution of nobility, but if we can change the Knights so that they at least aren't in the nobles' pockets, I think that will be a great step forward."

"I think so as well." He smiled. "It's lucky you ended up posted in my brigade. Our goals are similar and we have a much better chance of succeeding if we work together."

"Well… it wasn't entirely luck, sir. When I first joined, I was posted in Captain Cumore's brigade. This was… less than ideal." She grimaced at the mere thought of working under Cumore. "I applied to a transfer as soon as possible. They asked where I wanted to go, and I said 'anywhere but here'. I was told there wasn't room in any of the noble units, but I didn't care and told them to just put me with the commoners. So, they put me in a unit under a brand-new commoner lieutenant because no one else was trying to get into that unit."

Flynn reached for a weed, but found the stack empty. "What a good feast that was. Anyway, I'm glad you ended up in my unit, even if I was a last resort to escape Cumore."

She smiled. "I'm glad too, sir." With their food gone, she fell sideways on her mat and yawned.

Flynn pitied her for having to walk all day, and for the thousandth time he wished his leg wasn't broken so she wouldn't have to do it all herself. He also wished it wasn't broken because after two weeks it still hurt constantly, which was likely because it hadn't been set yet. It was probably already healing, and he didn't even want to think about how doctors were going to fix it when they finally got to Aurnion - and that was assuming they _could_. With no food left to sit up for, he lay down as well.

"Actually, sir…" Sodia said slowly, staring at the darkening sky, "if we're being completely honest with each other, I have a confession to make."

"Oh?" He didn't bother looking over and just lay on his back, trying to find constellations that looked like food.

"When I first met you… I didn't like you very much."

"You… didn't?" He wasn't sure why hearing that made his heart sink, because obviously she liked him well enough now. He couldn't help but be disappointed, though. "But… why not?" He sounded like a child who was upset that one of his classmates didn't like him.

"It's stupid. I… I didn't think you'd really earned your promotion. You were so young and a commoner and it seemed ridiculous that you'd already made lieutenant on your own merits."

Flynn twisted his torso on its side. "How did you think I got promoted, then?"

"It's rather embarrassing to admit."

"No, tell me."

"Well… I saw that you had a close relationship with Lady Estellise and I just… I jumped to assumptions. It's not unheard of, you know, for nobles to pick 'pet commoners' and grant them political favours in return for… you know…"

Flynn stared at her, not sure what she was talking about. She pulled her hands up to cover her blushing face, and the pieces finally clinked together in his brain. "You though I was sleeping with the princess?"

Sodia curled up like a turtle hiding from the world. "I'm so sorry, sir. It was a stupid assumption."

Flynn turned on his back again and watched the sky with shock. It had never even occurred to him that his and Estelle's relationship could be read that way, and now he worried if anyone else thought they were… _physical_ with each other. "I'm not."

"I know that!" she said quickly. "I told you, it was stupid. I always do this - I get these first impressions of people and then refuse to let them go. I'm so sorry."

"That's… you don't need to apologize for that. It was years ago."

"I'm still so embarrassed by what a stupid assumption that was. I thought I had you all figured out as this noble puppet who did whatever you were told. I've never been so wrong."

Flynn frowned and folded his hands on his stomach. "Well… I was Alexei's puppet for a while, wasn't I? I followed his orders without thinking. It took him kidnapping Lady Estellise to get it through my head that he couldn't be trusted."

"Don't feel bad about that, sir." She finally let her head emerge from her shell of shame. "We all trusted Alexei."

"I suppose." He sighed and listened to the crackling fire. "If we're on the subject of shameful confessions… here's something I've never told anyone. When I was twelve, I - I stole a loaf of bread." His hands slid to his face and covered his eyes. "I feel so awful about it. I was so hungry, and it was just sitting in the windowsill, so I just grabbed it and ran. It ended up tasting awful because I was so sure the knights were going to come barging in at any second and throw me in jail for twenty years."

Sodia couldn't hold in a snicker. "I really don't think a twelve-year-old would get twenty years for a loaf of bread."

"You never know. I certainly didn't. I was so torn up with guilt and Yuri just laughed at me. We were starving, Sodia." He desperately needed to make her understand. "It was winter and there wasn't anything else to eat. I'm so ashamed."

"I wont judge you, sir," she laughed and then rubbed her belly. "Trust me, I understand how you felt. I'd steal a loaf of bread, too, if there were any in this forest."

"Mm… let's have a feast when we get back to Zaphias."

"Imagine a whole table spread out with food."

His mouth was already watering. "Steak and roast chicken and buttery garlic bread and apple pie…"

"Apples are a plant and dandelions are also a plant so that's almost the same thing."

Flynn's mouth twisted in distaste. "They're really not."

She laughed. "You just need a more powerful imagination, sir."

"Heh-heh, or a better cook. I bet the Wonder Chef could make those weeds delicious."

"Maybe we should have tried to cook them. I was too hungry to wait, though."

"Me, too. Besides, to be honest they'd somehow end up _worse_ if I tried to cook them."

"I'm sure your cooking can't be that bad, sir. Nothing could be worse than some of those leafy things."

"Hmm, maybe. That can be my claim to culinary fame: not as bad as nature's most abhorrent edible weeds."

"I'm so proud of you."

Flynn smiled and then yawned heavily. He was still tired from being sick for so long, and wasn't sure how much longer he could stay up. "Sodia… why don't we ever associate outside of work?"

She turned her head. "Hm? What do you mean, sir?"

"We only ever talk about work. We should hang out more outside the office."

"Sir, with all due respect, we are both workaholics. When would we possibly have time?"

He snorted. "You may have a point there. But if I got you to hang out with me when I'm not at work, maybe one of these days I'll get you to call me 'Flynn'."

She smiled peacefully. "Don't count on it, sir."

* * *

It was mid-afternoon of the next day. Flynn leaned against a tree trunk, waiting for Sodia to come back with food. They didn't usually stop at that early, but they were both too hungry to keep going. The skies were clear and the day warm, and Flynn would have found it peaceful if he wasn't starving and his leg wasn't in agony. He carefully held his canteen against his chest and pried open the top. Being unable to use his dominant hand was almost as annoying as not being able to walk.

After taking a swig of water, he screwed the cap back on and leaned his head against the rough bark. He was considering taking a nap until Sodia returned when a shadow crossed the sun. For a second he thought it was a cloud, but then realized it was far too large and solid. Through the tree branches, he spotted an enormous flying monster, lazily skimming over the trees. His heart leapt - that was Ba'ul!

"Hey!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, waving his arms. "Ba'ul! Yuri! I'm down here!"

The Entelexeia kept flying, too high to hear him. Dammit! The tree blocked him from view. He needed to get to the creek bank where he could attract attention. This was going to hurt, but it was worth it if it led to being rescued. He threw himself forward and gritted his teeth as his leg twisted against the ground. Elbows dug into the dirt as he pulled himself forward. Ba'ul was moving away but he needed Yuri to notice him. His leg dragged behind him as he pathetically crawled forward, sending stabs of excruciating pain through his leg and up his torso every time it caught on a clump of dirt.

As soon as he got out from under the branches, he rolled on his side and waved his arms. "Hey! I'm here!" Ba'ul moved into the distance, and all Flynn could see now was his tail. "_Yuri_!" Flynn screamed, waving his arms so hard it hurt his wrist. "Come back, dammit!"

Ba'ul kept flying, and Flynn slowly let his arms drop. They'd missed him. He rolled on his back and panted while all the aches he'd ignored crept back to him. He could still see Ba'ul in the distance, but it had taken him too long to crawl into view and Ba'ul had passed him by. Dammit, he could not _believe_ this! Rescue had been so close but flew right by. He wanted to scream he was so frustrated.

Sodia returned fifteen minutes, but she dropped the food she carried when she saw him. "Sir! What happened? Are you alright?" She ran to his side and immediately checked him for injuries.

"I saw Ba'ul," he said grimly, still infuriated with himself for taking so long to get visible. "You know, Yuri's friend's flying whale. They flew right by me before I could get their attention."

Sodia looked to the sky with a frown. "Hm… that's frustrating, but look on the bright side, sir: it means they're looking for us."

"Yeah, that's true."

"Let me get you back on the stretcher and then we'll build a fire."

"Did you get anything worth cooking?"

"No, just some wild mushrooms and more weeds. This isn't a fire for cooking, though - we're going to make a lot of smoke. I'm certain they'll see it from the air and come straight back here."

Flynn's eyes lit up. "Oh! Yes, that is an excellent idea."

Flynn sat in the shade and ate his portion of the weeds and mushrooms while Sodia started a fire by the creek bank. Expecting weeds and mushrooms to fill his stomach was like hoping a few drops of rain would fill a barrel, but it was better than nothing. All he could hope for was that the smoke signal worked, Ba'ul came back, and carried them right to a great big feast in Aurnion.

"That should do it," Sodia said, tossing a leafy bush on the fire.

The bush was still slightly damp and rather than going up in flames it turned into a plume of smoke. Flynn's hopes soared into the sky along with the smoke. Yuri would see this. Ba'ul would be back any minute now. Flynn sat in the shade and waited with anticipation while Sodia lay on dirt by the creek, where she would clearly be visible. Flynn allowed himself to fantasize about getting out of this damned forest today, of sleeping in a proper bed, of getting a doctor to straighten his aching leg, and most of all, of getting a decent meal.

They had to wait for a long time. The sun was starting to set and Flynn's hopes dwindled by the time he heard branches cracking behind him. Footsteps! Those were human footsteps, too, unless the monsters of the forest had learned to walk upright. His heart soared; _I'm going home_.

With a huge grin glued to his face, he watched in anticipation for Yuri to come bursting through the trees. The bushes parted and a person strode toward him, but then Flynn's smile dropped. It wasn't Yuri.

Flynn's hand went to his sword before the man could take more than a few steps toward him, but the man had a sword of his own. He swung at Flynn, who managed to block it. The blow was strong and his left hand wasn't nearly as strong or dexterous, and twisted to the side. A sharp kick to his leg and he sunk his teeth into his lip to muffle a scream. The sword dropped from his hand, and seconds later the man's sword rested on his shoulder, the edge barely scraping his throat.

This all happened in seconds, so by the time Sodia got to her feet and ran toward them, she had to stop when the blade went to Flynn's throat. She gritted her teeth and furiously tightened her grip on her own sword, but didn't take a step closer.

"Smart girl," the man said.

"Who are you?" Sodia demanded.

"My name is Simon Cumore." He kicked Flynn's sword out of reach. "I've been looking for you. Thanks for the smoke signal."

"Cumore, huh?" Flynn said. "Did your sister send you?"

"She asked me to come, yes."

"So you're here to finish me off."

"That was the plan. You, woman," he planted one hand on Flynn's hand and pulled the sword tighter against his neck. "Throw your blade away."

Sodia bit her lip, glancing nervously to Flynn. Simon's sword pressed against his neck and a bead of blood trickled down his throat. Sodia breathed out through gritted teeth and then tossed her sword to the side. "You're just going to kill him, then? Because your sister asked you to? Have you no pride?"

"Actually, I'm not very happy about this arrangement at all." Now that they were both disarmed, he pulled the blade away from Flynn's neck, though he kept it in his hand. "I was really hoping you would be the one injured. The commandant is my prey, but there's no honour in hunting a lame animal." He faced Flynn and pointed his sword at his face. Flynn leaned back slightly and defiantly glared up at him. "Look at you; you can't even stand. There's no sport in killing a cripple."

Was being crippled going to actually save his life for the first time in this whole ordeal? Flynn wasn't sure if that made it worth it, but it was an unexpected perk. "So… are you going to let me go?"

Simon frowned. "I can't do that, either. Letting my prey walk free at the end of the pursuit is a waste of my time. Hm… woman, what is your name?"

"Sodia," she said with venom.

"Very well, Sodia, I'll make a deal with you. I agreed to do this job for my sister for the thrill of the hunt, but the commandant's condition means there's hardly any thrill there. So why don't I hunt you instead?"

Flynn looked between Sodia and Simon in alarm. "Excuse me?"

Simon ignored him. "I'll give you a head start. You run into the woods and try to evade me. If you manage to last twelve hours without me finding and killing you, you win and I will let you and the commandant go unharmed. If I catch you, I will kill you and then return to kill the commandant."

Sodia eyed him warily. "And if I refuse to play?"

Simon shrugged. "It pains me to do so without any sport, but I'll just kill the commandant here and you can go. I have no quarrel with you and you were never my intended prey."

Flynn met Sodia's eyes and silently told her to leave. Simon would never give her the option of playing a game with him if he wasn't confident he'd win, and there was no reason Sodia should let herself be hunted like an animal. Both of them didn't need to die here. She had to get back to Zaphias and tell everyone what had happened to him. More than that, someone had to carry out their goal of reforming the Knights and she was the only one who could do it.

Sodia tore her eyes away from Flynn, and he already knew what she was going to do. "Very well," she said, "Let's play your stupid game."

"Sodia, no," Flynn said angrily. "Just get out of here."

"I told you already, sir," she said evenly, "I'm not leaving this forest without you."

"I'm ordering you to leave me and return to Zaphias!"

"And I'm disagreeing with that order, as you told me I could."

Flynn wanted to argue, but there was no point. She'd made up her mind to save his life, and all he could hope for now was that she managed to win this game. He met her eyes and frowned, but nodded minutely to tell her he'd accepted her decision.

"Very good," Simon said. "Well then, I'll give you half an hour to get ahead of me. Your time starts now. Go."

Sodia gave Flynn one last look, and then took off into the trees.


	11. A Most Dangerous Game

**Chapter Eleven: A Most Dangerous Game**

They'd moved away from the creek. Simon assumed that if they were signalling with the smoke, someone might come to their aid, and wanted to get out of the area. Unfortunately, he was probably right. Flynn's last hope had been that Yuri would show up while he waited for Sodia or Simon to return, but that hope had been dashed when Simon loaded up their gear and dragged him away on the stretcher. He now sat against a skinny tree, his wrists tightly bound behind it. This seemed like overkill, since it wasn't like he was about to get up and run away.

"So," Flynn said. Simon sat on a tree stump facing him, idly checking the sun's position to decide when to move out after Sodia. "You're Cumore's brother, then?"

"That is correct. I am the eldest of three siblings."

Flynn wouldn't have guessed from his fashion. Simon didn't share his brother and sister's love for hearts and finery, and instead wore practical black slacks, hiking boots, and a finely tailored jacket.

"I have a question for you, Commandant." He leaned forward. "Did you kill my brother?"

"No," Flynn said firmly. "I am not the one who killed him. If you're trying to get revenge-"

"I don't care about revenge," Simon said. "To be honest, I never cared much for Alex. Whiny little brat."

Damn, there went that plan. "If this isn't about your brother, why do you want to kill me?"

"My sister begged me, and it sounded fun."

Flynn gaped at him, more than a little alarmed to learn he had been hunted down and tied to a tree by someone who thought it was "fun". That was a kind of crazy he couldn't reason with.

"Hunting has always been my passion," he explained. "It's nature's oldest and purest sport. I've hunted beats from Ilyccia to Yurzorea, and never failed to catch my prey. I'm so good, in fact, that it's gotten… well, too easy. The idea of hunting a thinking, intelligent human who could reason and fight back seemed like just the kind of challenge I was looking for."

"Did it not occur to you that hunting prey that was thinking and intelligent was inherently immoral?"

Simon shrugged. "I honestly don't lose sleep over the lives of commoners. Peasants exist to support the nobility. It is not a fair system, but that's how the world works. Don't get mad at me because it was your rotten luck to be born a peasant."

Flynn's glower deepened and he couldn't help himself from pulling at the rope again, just in case he found a way to loosen them. "A leader is nothing without their people. As a noble, it should be your duty to protect your vassals. They don't exist to be fodder for your personal entertainment."

"I'm sure the chickens you eat would argue the same thing." He glanced at the sun again and stood up. "It's about time for me to be heading out." He pulled a barrier out of his pocket and placed it next to Flynn. "I'll set this up to protect you from monsters while I'm gone. I'm sure getting eaten alive while tied to a tree would be a rather unpleasant way to go. Although…" an angry glimmer sparked in his eyes, "I'm sure drowning in quicksand would also be unpleasant."

Flynn suppressed a shiver as that look hit him. He got the distinct impression Simon cared a lot more about his brother's death than he was willing to admit. The anger directed at him also said Simon suspected Flynn knew a lot more details than _he_ was willing to admit.

"I am not a cruel man," Simon said when the barrier was set up. "When I've returned from killing Sodia, I will slit your throat cleanly and quickly. I see no reason to prolong the suffering of captured prey."

Flynn glared at him. "Gee, thanks."

Simon ruffled his hair and smiled. "Sit tight. I'll be back in a few hours."

As soon as he was gone, Flynn set to work trying to free himself. He didn't know what his plan was once he got his hands free since he still couldn't walk, but he'd surely be closer to working something out if he had use of his hands. The thin cords dug into his wrists, and every time he tried to get wiggle room he just hurt his sprain. Rubbing the rope against the bark was impossible, because he'd rub the skin on his wrists bloody before getting anywhere. The tree was thin enough that his arms could go around it, but not so small he could hope to break it.

After nearly ten minutes of struggling to find slack, he slumped against the trunk with a sigh. This wasn't going to work. He'd have to put his trust in Sodia and hope for the best.

* * *

"It was around here," Karol said as Ba'ul descended. "I'm certain I saw smoke."

Judith threw the rope ladder over the side of Ba'ul because there wasn't enough room for him to land. She went down first, followed by Karol, and then Yuri and and Repede. Repede struggled with ladders given that he was a dog, so he wrapped his front paws around Yuri's shoulders and clung tightly on the way down.

"You know," Yuri grunted to Repede, who's face was right next to his, "you might want to invest in dental hygiene, buddy." Repede barked, sending another blast of dog breath in Yuri's face. He was relieved when they hit the ground and Repede hopped back down on all fours.

"They were definitely here," Karol said, standing in front of a still-smoking fire. "They must have started a fire to get our attention, but they put it out for some reason."

Yuri kicked a rock into the creek. He could still smell the smoke; Flynn must have been here within an hour or two. They were so damn close.

Repede sniffed around the site, investigating an area under the shade of a large tree. He barked, and Judith examined what he was pointing at with his nose. She bent to examine the soft ground and pursed her lips.

"What did you find?" Yuri asked.

"You know those footsteps we've been seeing that don't belong to Flynn or Sodia? They're here. They line up with the skid marks we think is from a stretcher of some sort."

"Look, there's more footprints over here," Karol said, pointing to the ground near the creek. "These look like Sodia's."

"Alright…" Yuri followed Sodia's footprints until they disappeared in the underbrush. "So who is this other guy, and why is he now the one dragging Flynn?" It was possible he was another rescuer, but unlikely. This probably meant Flynn had gotten himself into trouble. The good news was that there were no signs of blood, so for whatever reason the attacker hadn't killed Flynn outright. That meant he was still alive, at least for now.

"What should we do?" Karol asked.

"Sodia's tracks lead that way," Judith said, pointing into the trees. She turned and pointed more behind herself and said, "Flynn's go this way. I think we should split up and each follow one direction."

Yuri nodded. "Alright. Judy, Karol, you go after Sodia. Repede and I will go after Flynn. We'll meet back here in a few hours."

Judith smiled and rested her hand on Yuri's shoulder. "We'll find him soon, Yuri."

"Yeah, I know." They were so close to Flynn he could feel it. Finding him wasn't Yuri's chief worry anymore - it was what state Flynn would be in. He didn't know what he would do if they came all this way and got to Flynn only minutes after this other person murdered him, but it wouldn't be pretty. "Let's go, Repede. You can still follow his scent, right?"

With a bark of confirmation, they took off into the trees. Yuri hurried, images of Flynn getting his throat slit and dumped in a shallow grave playing through his head. That would make sense, wouldn't it? If anyone went looking for him, they'd search along the creek just like Yuri did. If you wanted to kill Flynn so that no one would ever find the body, dragging him deeper into the woods before making a bloody mess would be the sensible thing. To save himself from worrying about Flynn, he got angry instead. Stupid Flynn had brought this on himself by coming out to this forest all on his own when he was supposed to be on vacation. The idiot should have known he was riding the top of the list as Zaphias' most eligible assassination target.

He sped up his pace.

By now the sun had disappeared. Somewhere, an owl hooted and small things scurried in the underbrush nearby. The path Repede followed took them through a patch of wildflowers, and they were forced to slow down. Repede growled in frustration because the pollen from the flowers interfered with Flynn's scent. He managed to find it again, but they went slower because it was now mingled with pollen and the forest was filled with pollen to confuse the trail.

A breeze swept in, and Yuri almost considered buttoning up his shirt. He didn't have time to stop to button it up anyway; Flynn could be dead by now for all he knew. They had to hurry. Hurrying was difficult when they were also trying to move quietly. Attracting monsters or alerting Flynn's captor they were coming would both be disastrous. Repede's soft paws padded lightly across the dirt, but Yuri winced with every crackle of dead leaves and was certain he'd miraculously managed to find every dry stick the forest had to offer.

A bush rustled. Seconds later, a human figure burst from concealment with a shout. Yuri whirled to the side with a swing of his sword, which landed with a _thunk_ in a thick wooden staff. Dappled moonlight gleamed in purple eyes widened with shock.

"Yuri Lowell?"

Yuri jerked his sword out of her branch, but didn't lower it just yet. It was Sodia, but she was a wreck. Leaves stuck out of her unkempt hair, her braid barely held itself together, and her knight uniform was dirty, frayed, and baggy, looking like she'd lost some weight. "What, trying to kill me for a second time?"

Sodia lowered her branch, which he noted had been rubbed against a rock to sharpen one end into a rudimentary spear. Her eyes drifted to the ground in shame. "No… no, of course not. I apologize; I didn't realize it was you."

"Yeah, I get it. Thought I was the guy after Flynn, right?"

She nodded and ended with her head raised. "It was an accident. What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you. Well, Flynn, mostly. Where is he?"

Sodia's eyes narrowed with fury. "Simon Cumore's got him somewhere. I'm trying to circle back so I can rescue him."

"What's Cumore got to do with this?"

"I'll explain as we walk."

Yuri listened closely as Sodia recounted all the pressing details of their time in the woods. Most of it was stuff Yuri had guessed already, though he didn't like the confirmation that Flynn was indeed crippled with a badly broken leg, and that he'd been near death with fever only days ago. When she got to explaining Simon Cumore, though, his blood boiled.

"That bastard," he seethed when she was done. "He's gonna pay for this."

"We should focus on the getting the commandant out of here first."

"Right. Just follow Repede; he'll lead us straight to him."

"We must be cautious, though. We are being hunted."

Yuri nodded, suppressing a shudder. Imagining a cunning and intelligent human stalking him through the dark forest was creepy. Repede's ears swivelled on high alert, ready to pounce at a moment's notice. They broke out of a bush and hit a narrow path, likely made by animals. Following it would be easier than struggling through the roots and bushes on the forest floor, so they took cautious steps down the trail. Yuri's eyes darted around the trees, checking every moving shadow to make sure it was just a branch rustling in the wind and not a hunter sneaking up on them.

"Um…" Sodia's soft voice broke the silence. "Yuri Lowell, I need to talk to you."

Yuri's head shifted back slightly. "Can it wait?"

"I don't know when I'll have a chance to talk to you privately again."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, go for it."

"It's just… I don't think I've ever properly apologized to you for Zaude."

He breathed out in annoyance. "You want to drag that topic up again?"

"I only want to say that I'm deeply sorry for the pain I caused you."

"Ok, great, you're sorry. No offense, but I really wasn't eaten up over a lack of a direct apology. I already told you I understand why you did it and I'm not going to make a big deal about it. It happened, we've come to an understanding, now let's move on and worry about Flynn."

She growled in annoyance. "But why _aren't_ you more upset? I tried to kill you!"

He turned his head, but didn't stop walking. "What do you want me to do? Try to kill you so it evens out and you can stop feeling bad?"

She faltered. "No… I want to know why you value your life so little, when the commandant values it so highly."

He blinked. That hadn't been what he'd been expecting. With a scowl he focused on the path in front of him. "I already told you. I'm a criminal; I'm just getting things done until the right person comes along and for Flynn to fix the empire so people like me aren't needed anymore. When are you going to stop wallowing in guilt and step-up to be the ally Flynn needs?"

She was silent, and Yuri risked glancing back to see her staring at the ground with a frown. He faced forward again by the time she spoke. "You say that as if I'm the commandant's ideal ally, yet you know better than anyone that I've committed a terrible crime. How are you any worse than me?"

"Oh? Whatever happened to me being the one blemish in his oh-so perfect record?"

Leaves crinkled in her silence. Then: "I grew up." She sighed. "I'm going to continue working by side to make the empire a better place, but I do not think I am significantly more worthy of my place with him than you are. We've both done criminal things in the name of a greater good. Don't distance yourself from the commandant - if he still values my support and input after what I've done, I know he'd value yours tenfold."

Yuri didn't know what to say to this, because getting compliments from Sodia was an alien experience. "Yeah, well… I'm not going to work with him, 'cause I'm in a guild and he's a knight, but you can do what you gotta do."

"I will," she said firmly. "I won't give up on him."

The trail they were following curved to the side when they hit a gully. Yuri stopped at the edge and frowned. The long trench was about ten feet wide and almost as deep, and the bottom was filled with nettles. He considered jumping it, but doubted he could make it. Falling would mean landing in a thicket of stinging plants, and then a rough scramble up the steep side.

"You sure Flynn is this way?"

Sodia nodded. "I'm certain. Look, there's a fallen tree. We can use that as a bridge."

Yuri hurried along the edge of the gully. Flynn couldn't be far now. He passed Repede and rushed to the fallen tree.

Sodia gasped. "Yuri, sto-"

His foot landed in the leaves, and something snapped. It happened in seconds, and the next thing Yuri knew the world flipped upside down and he found himself dangling by his ankle from a tree branch. His sword flew out of his hand while he caught his breath and took a few seconds to register what had happened. When he finally got his wits about him, he realized he must have stepped on a snare. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Well, well," came a new voice emerging from behind the trees. "I assumed you'd try to come back for the commandant, but I didn't expect you to pick up a companion."

Sodia dropped her branch and snatched Yuri's sword from the ground while Repede barred his teeth. Yuri attempted throwing a punch at the man who could only be Simon Cumore, but he stepped aside and the motion sent Yuri swinging. His left leg kicked as he tried to find somewhere to put it, and he ended up bracing it against his bound right ankle. The tree and rope creaked as he rocked back and forth, and with all the blood rushing to his head he was getting dizzy.

Sodia had no patience for banter with the villain, and charged ahead. Simon met her blade, and then the two were locked in combat. Yuri would have loved to join, but he was busy attempting to reach the rope around his ankle to set himself free. It turned out reaching your toes while hanging upside down was difficult. He jerked and kicked, swaying back and forth with increasing frustration. Repede couldn't get the angle right with the knife in his mouth, so he dropped his knife and gnawed at the rope around the tree trunk.

Sodia crashed into Yuri as she stumbled back, sending him swinging wildly again. "Hey, watch it!"

She ignored him and leapt back into the fray. It took Yuri a few moments to notice, since he kept spinning in circles, but there were several times Sodia passed over the chance to gain the upper hand to keep herself positioned between Simon and Yuri. As Yuri watched, Simon blocked her blow and shoved her aside. He stepped toward Yuri, who instinctively pulled his arms over his head and braced himself.

Simon drew his sword back, and then Sodia charged him. He twisted at the last second to avoid a lethal blow, but blood poured from a cut on his side. Sodia planted herself firmly in front of Yuri rather than pressing forward, clearly not willing to risk giving Simon an opening to finish Yuri off. She probably could have defeated him just then had she attacked, but instead she stayed put to defend Yuri until Repede managed to chew through the rope. Yuri hadn't been totally sold on her apology earlier, but this display impressed him far more than words did. He was still always slightly nervous around her, always wondering if she would snap and try to finish him off without warning, but it truly seemed now like she'd had a change of heart.

Repede had nearly finished chewing the rope. It creaked and swayed, and Yuri kept glancing between Repede's progress and the sword fight going on startlingly close to his head. Sodia's movement was restricted by her determination to keep herself in front of Yuri, and this gave Simon an advantage. Guilt shot through Yuri as Sodia grunted from a slice to her shoulder she should have been able to avoid. She had to step aside to avoid the follow-up, and backed away on the defensive. Simon's sword sliced the air with a swish and Sodia barely kept up with her parries. She back up, forced to abandon Yuri. Luckily, Simon decided to focus on finishing her before turning on Yuri, whom he assumed wasn't going anywhere.

Repede jerked his head back, tearing the last of the rope with it. Yuri barely had time to twist his torso and pull his arms over his head before he crashed into the ground, nearly breaking his neck. At the same time, Sodia tripped on a root while backing up and landed heavily in the dirt.

Yuri snatched Repede's dagger from the ground and ran forward, not even noticing the rope still around his ankle dragging behind him. Simon raised his sword, and then Yuri leapt at him. The dagger sank into his back up to the hilt.

He stiffened, and Sodia's sword shot up, digging into his side. With a cry of rage and pain, he threw Yuri off him with a surge of energy. Yuri tumbled to the ground and rolled, right over the edge of the gully. For one second, he had time to think, _I'm fine; the gully isn't that steep_. Then he hit the nettles and wondered if he'd landed in a forest fire.

He rolled to a stop in the middle of the gully, winded from the fall. Fire seared every inch of exposed skin, only it wasn't fire. Footsteps distracted him, and then Simon dashed across the log, one arm clutching his bleeding side with the knife still lodged in his back. Sodia was right behind him, but as soon as Simon stepped off the log, he grabbed it and shoved it to the side. The bridge tumbled into the gully, and Sodia pinwheeled her arms on the edge to keep from falling in. Repede bit the skirt of her uniform and yanked her back, but Simon was already running away.

"Dammit!" Sodia shouted, standing on the edge. "Yuri, can you get up the other side? He's going back for Flynn!"

"Trying." He had never regretted leaving his chest exposed as much as he did now. Burning red welts covered his arms, chest, and face and he could feel the tiny stinging hairs clinging to his pants, trying to break through the fabric. He struggled through the weeds, every movement accompanied by new stings. He couldn't even hear Simon thrashing through the woods anymore. Dammit, dammit, dammit! They had to get across this stupid gully so they could finish him before he reached Flynn.

Yuri reached the other side of the gully and tried climbing up. His boots skidded in dirt and the slope turned into a mini avalanche of dirt. Hands scrambled to grip the dirt and find something solid, but the more he tried to climb up, the more the slope gave out beneath him. He finally lost his balance and fell back, landing once again in the thicket of burning stings.

"For fuck's sake!" he shouted.

"That isn't going to work," Sodia said, kneeling on the edge.

"What tipped you off?" He sat upright and tried to pull leaves out of his hair before he got more stings on his scalp. This ended with stings on his fingers instead.

"Come back to this side and use the rope to climb up. Then we'll find another way around."

Yuri glanced across the gully and the dense patch of pain he was going to have to cross - again - to get back up that side. He couldn't think of anything else, and every moment he spent trying to figure something else out, Simon got close to Flynn. He sighed and got to work.

* * *

Flynn sat by the tree, conserving his strength. He didn't know what for, but it sounded better in his head than 'sitting on my ass because there's nothing else I can do'. His wrists stung and tickled with dried blood and his arms ached, but he was no closer to freeing himself. By his estimation, Simon had been gone for about an hour. The sun was gone and Simon hadn't thought to leave him a fire for light, so all he had to go by was the dim moonlight that could make it through the thick foliage. All he could make out across from him was the vague outline of trees and the suggestion of bushes, but otherwise he was left in complete darkness. He tried to be logical. With a sprained wrist and his sword confiscated, he wouldn't have much hope defending himself even if his hands were free. Strangely enough, this didn't make him feel any better.

He flinched at every noise. A fox creeping through the bushes sent his heart hammering, thinking it was Simon returning. He didn't have an accurate way to tell time, but it would be dawn by the time twelve hours had elapsed. If Simon came back before then, it meant Sodia was dead and he was next. That wasn't going to happen, though. He had to believe in Sodia. She'd spent her childhood exploring the woods; she knew how to stay hidden. All she had to do was find somewhere safe and wait out the twelve hours. She just needed to live through the night and then they could both get out of here alive.

And if she didn't… Flynn gritted his teeth and scooted against the tree to see how much leverage he could get. If Simon came back before twelve hours had passed, he'd be ready. Simon thought of him as captured, crippled prey and wouldn't be expecting him to fight back. A perfectly timed kick between his legs would drop him, and then lining up a solid kick to the bridge of his nose could kill him. From there, Flynn would have to count on Yuri finding him to untie him. Hopefully that happened before the barrier gave out and monsters showed up. It wasn't the most foolproof of plans, and he'd actually be surprised if it worked, but like hell was he going to give up without fighting at all.

It would be so much easier to aim his kicks if he could at least see! It was so dark he might as well be blindfolded. The knowledge that a psychotic hunter was prowling the woods and might come back at any moment kept him on edge. Every flutter of leaves in the wind could be him returning. That movement behind the trees was just a bush rustling, so there was no need to be so tense.

Except he wasn't tense because he was afraid of Simon. No, the tension hovered in the air, thick and palpable like the darkness itself. The darkness that seemed to be deepening, growing, and closing in. Every muscle stiffened - he wasn't alone. Something moved, and he could feel something rushing toward him, and he slammed his eyes shut seconds before it arrived. It was back.

"So. You've come to visit again," he said, refusing to open his eyes. Seeing it, giving it a place to live in his mind's eye, gave it strength.

There was no response, at least not one heard by his ears. He didn't have to hear it to know it wanted him to open his eyes. At least, he thought there was something there. He hadn't seen or felt anything from the supposed monster since recovering from his fever, and had mostly convinced himself it was a hallucination along the lines of the dragonfly and the tree. He was nervous, on edge, and admittedly frightened, so it was entirely possible his mind was making things up. Being trapped utter darkness could play tricks on your mind. All he had to do was open his eyes to see that he was alone.

_Yes, that's right, open your eyes_.

He squeezed them shut. Better safe than sorry, right? He could feel it moving around him by the way goosebumps rose along his arms and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. A thick, coppery scent drifted to his nose. Its warm breath tickled his cheek. If he opened his eyes he'd see that he was imagining it but he couldn't bring himself to risk it.

"What do you want from me?" It was so stupid, talking to air.

The answer arrived in his brain without wasting time on words or vocalizations: it wanted to kill him. He'd failed to get rid of Sodia and refused to give in to his base impulses, so he was nothing more than another useless bastion of civilization who wanted to tame the woods. It wanted to rip him to shreds so his blood would soak into the earth and his corpse would feed the trees. A mental image of foot long claws slicing through his torso found its place in his brain, and his abdomen throbbed in anticipation.

His heart throbbed in his throat and fear curdled in his stomach, so thick he wanted to throw up. He couldn't fight this thing - he didn't even know what it looked like! If he could just crack his eyes open a peek…. Flynn just needed to know what it looked like. Logically, any shape it could take would be less horrifying than anything his mind came up with. All he wanted was one peek, so he at least would know what he was dealing with. His eyelids started to open…

A burst of satisfaction hovered in the air and he slammed them shut again. Damn, that was what it _wanted_. He couldn't look, not even one glance, or it would be able to tear him apart.

"I don't want anything from you. I just want to leave this forest."

The presence circled him, a cat toying with a cornered mouse. There was anger, so thick Flynn could smell it almost as clearly as the ever-present blood.

_You're going to die_.

Flynn received that message loud and clear, even if it hadn't exactly come in words. It planted an image in his head of Simon Cumore thrashing through the trees, blood dripping down his side, murder in his eyes. That message was clear, too: _he's coming for you_. Flynn didn't know if this meant Sodia was dead (_please, no, he can't have caught and killed her already…_) but it did mean his time was running short. Simon was coming, and when he arrived, Flynn was dead. His plan to kick him wouldn't work with his eyes closed, but opening them would expose him to the creature. Either way, he was a dead man.

He might as well open his eyes. Giving Simon the satisfaction of slitting his throat while he cowered at the base of a tree with his eyes closed was reprehensible. He should open his eyes and let the creature end him now before Simon got here. Just open his eyes so he could stop being an idiot and realize this whole thing was in his head. Do it!

He couldn't. The fragile grip on his closed eyes was his only defence against the horror lurking around him. Keeping them closed, and the beast shrouded in mystery, terrified him, but risking opening them to expose himself to it was even worse.

They could make a deal. If he opened his eyes, the thing would have the ability to cut the ropes binding him. It would let him live if he killed Sodia. That was a fair deal - after all, Sodia had tried to kill his best friend, and she'd already made it clear she would give anything to protect him. If that meant saving his life at the cost of hers, she'd agree, wouldn't she? She'd sworn her life to atoning her sin, so sacrificing herself for Flynn was all part of that. It would even support his leg so he could walk and face Simon standing up.

Take the chance. Simon was on his way here to murder him; this was his only chance to live. Take it! The most basic drive of existence was self-preservation. Everything from bacteria to eggbears had the drive to keep living above all else. What arrogance humans had to think they knew how to live better!

He couldn't think with the overpowering scent of blood clogging his nose and every hair on his arms stood up with goosebumps. The most horrific creature he'd ever encountered was _right there_, looming over his shoulder, and he couldn't risk taking a single peek at it. It oozed fear like a slime, sticky and toxic, that reduced Flynn to his barest instincts. The animal inside him wanted to live at any cost, so take the damn deal!

The clamp on his eyelids loosened. If he took the deal, he would be able to see again. He'd finally be able to see what this creature looked like. All he had to do was kill Sodia, and didn't she deserve it after everything she'd done? Muscles trembled. This thing was wilderness personified and chaos rippled from it like heat waves.

It was all so clear in Flynn's head. Civilization was such a tiny, fragile thing. They had tiny islands, until recently protected by barriers, and beyond the cities the wilderness spread untamed for hundreds of miles. For millenia, nature had reigned supreme across the land; humanity's stint as tamers of the wild was just a blip on nature's timeline. What hope did one man have to fight back against thousands of years of pure, wild energy, when even his basic animal nature urged him to give in to the wild?

But killing Sodia… She had made a mistake, and she was working so hard to atone for it. She was one of his best friends, and she had betrayed him. By all logic, he should have cut all ties with her. And yet… he still cared about her. You only got one chance in the wild. One wrong move and your fragile life would get wiped out, swept along in the wave of nature. One little fall from a path and you could be crippled and at the mercy of the wild. Beyond the reach of civilization, illness and disease lurked just beneath the surface and with one wrong move they'd gobble you up.

The only reason Flynn wasn't dead was because Sodia went against preservation of herself and risked everything to carry him out of the woods the long way. There were so many times she could have left him and saved herself, but he was still here, and she was once again out there, risking her life on his behalf. He'd repaid the favour by believing in her and giving her a second chance. He was not an animal. He was a tiny pebble in the ocean of the wilderness, but he didn't have to stay here. Just get out of here alive and he'd get back to his own world, the world of reason and diplomacy. Those were his tools of civilization, and he didn't have to give in to the animal instinct to grab at the first chance to save himself.

If reason and diplomacy were his tools, maybe there was a chance he could use them against the wilderness. The image of Simon Cumore running toward him, dripping with blood, flashed through his mind and his heart skipped a beat, wondering how much longer he had.

"Why do you want to kill me and Sodia when there is someone so much worse in your forest?"

Questioning.

"The man coming to kill me is a hunter." His voice was thick with fear, but he kept going. "I won't lie and say Sodia never killed any animals. We killed monsters, yes, but we did it to survive. We don't belong out here and we struggled to find food. But this other man… he kills for fun. He's slaughtered monsters across the world for no other reason than he wanted to feel superior to beasts."

Anger flared again, but it wasn't directed at him this time.

"Simon Cumore's hands are stained with the blood of countless beasts, and I have little doubt his home is covered with their stuffed corpses on display. He's a hunter. He's killed so many creatures, and now he's trying to kill us. He craves nothing but the thrill of killing beings he sees as his lessers, and _we_ are the ones you want dead?"

Rage, hot and white. The creature had never gotten close enough to see into Simon's mind the way it saw into Flynn, and now the news of what sort of man he truly was filled it with fury. Flynn didn't dare open his eyes but the pressure hovering around him diminished.

Bushes crashed again, and this time it wasn't a fox. Heavy footsteps stomped into the clearing, accompanied by heaving breaths. "Flynn Scifo - what the fuck is that?!"

Flynn buried his chin in his chest, fighting the urge to take a peek. The footsteps backed away, and Simon said, "S-Stay back! What the hell are you?! No - st-" he cut off in a scream. Flynn pulled his knee close to his face and wished he could clamp hands over his ears. The scream pierced through him and his heart ached in instinctive empathy.

Finally words managed to cut through the agonized yell. "Help me!" The smell of blood and viscera filled the clearing stronger than ever before and Simon's panicked wails couldn't drown out the snaps, squelches, and rips that made Flynn shudder. Flynn was not afraid of blood and he had plenty of experience with death on the battlefield, but with his eyes screwed up tight all he had to go on were Simon's horrified yells, which were quickly turning into gurgles, endless slashing and splatters and the reek of blood and gore. The image his mind conjured was far more horrifying than anything that could actually be happening, but he dared not open his eyes in terror that the creature would turn on him next.

Simon's body hit the ground with a thump. The tension lightened as the dark presence slowly crept back into the shadows. Flynn could feel it leaving, and knew instinctively that it wouldn't be coming back. A lingering _goodbye _hovered in his mind.

The forest was silent. Owls, crickets, mice, or anything else that might make noise in the woods had gone still. Even the smell of blood ebbed away, despite the fact that Simon's mutilated corpse lay only a few yards from him. He took deep breaths, trying to calm down. He pressed himself against the tree and kept his eyes shut tight, just in case. In the darkness and silence, he may as well have been in a void.

He didn't know how long he sat there. Time stretched as he buried his face in his knee, taking deep breaths and not daring to open his eyes. The night dragged for an eternity. In some distant part of his mind, he wondered if Sodia was dead and Yuri would ever find him, and if he'd be stuck here until some distant rescue party found his skeleton still tied to the tree.

When he finally heard footsteps running toward him, every muscle tensed. It might be the creature returning so he pressed his eyes shut and braced himself.

"Flynn!"

Yuri! Except, it might not be. The creature had approached him in Yuri's form once before, hadn't it? He couldn't risk looking yet.

"Holy hell, you're alive!" Yuri's voice said as the running footsteps came closer. "Hey, what's wrong? Why won't you look at me?"

"Flynn!" Sodia hit the ground beside him and the next thing he knew, arms wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him tight. "Oh, I was so worried about you."

"Are you ok?" Yuri asked. "Is something wrong with your eyes?"

Repede woofed and bumped his nose against Flynn's left leg.

The was only one beast in the forest, and as far as he knew, it couldn't be two people at once. Besides, Sodia's arms around his neck felt warm and physical. This _definitely_ wasn't in his head. After what felt like forever, he pried his eyes open. The first thing he saw was Yuri's grinning face, illuminated by an oil lamp sitting on the ground.

"You're late," Yuri said.

Flynn stared at him for a few seconds, trying to figure out what he was talking about. Oh, right. Aurnion. That felt like a lifetime ago. He managed a smirk. "I'm never agreeing to go on vacation again."

Sodia pried herself off him and sighed in relief. "I'm so glad you're alright. He took off ahead of us and we had to find another way around a gully fully of nettles."

That explained why Yuri's face, chest, and arms were covered in red welts. "As you can see, he's dead." He nodded toward the corpse… which was in a lot better shape than he thought it should be.

Yuri strolled over and pulled Repede's knife out of his back. "Looks like you were lucky. He finally dropped dead of his injuries just before reaching you."

Flynn frowned. "Wait… no. There was a monster. It ripped him to shreds."

Sodia gave him a worried look. "Was it… the same monster you saw when you were sick?"

"I… yes. I think so. Well, I didn't see it this time. I closed my eyes, but I could feel it. I explained to it that Simon Cumore is a hunter and it got enraged and attacked him when he arrived."

Yuri kicked Simon's shoulder to lift him up and examine his front. "Doesn't look ripped to shreds to me. The only injuries are the ones Sodia and I inflicted."

Flynn's eyes were glued to the corpse. This was impossible. He _knew_ the thing had been here. It had been right in front of him! He'd all but seen it… or heard it… or felt it…. Ok, so his evidence wasn't that fool-proof. But he'd heard Simon get ripped apart, hadn't he? Or had that all been a paranoid nightmare of his light-deprived and frightened mind?

Sodia rubbed his shoulder. "There's nothing here, Flynn," she said softly. "The only monster in these woods was a human, and he's dead now."

He hung his head. He had no way to prove what he'd experienced, and to be honest he wasn't even sure it had really happened. With Sodia and Yuri here, and Repede lying close against his side, the terrors of the night seemed far away, even if it was still pitch black beyond Yuri's lantern. "You're right," he muttered.

"Let me get you out of there," Yuri said, returning with the knife. In one quick movement, he cut the ropes around Flynn's wrists.

"Thanks." Flynn wiped away the dried blood scabbing on the shallow cuts. The skin of his wrists was inflamed, and his sprain throbbed painfully.

"Geeze, you're a mess," Yuri said. "You've never been this much of a klutz before."

"It's hardly my fault."

"Yeah, whatever." Yuri waved his hand and then grabbed the edge of the stretcher, pulling it toward him. "Let's get you loaded up so we can take you to Ba'ul, since you're a lazy bum who won't walk himself."

"Heh. Right."

Sodia, Yuri, and Repede half-lifted and half-dragged him on the stretcher. Sodia picked him up, but this time she had Yuri to lift the back half so she didn't have to drag the entire weight.

"Don't worry, Flynn," Yuri said quietly. "By tomorrow morning, you'll be with a doctor. Alright, Repede, lead the way to Ba'ul!"

Repede barked and they were on their way. Flynn smiled, and fell asleep minutes later.


	12. Out of the Woods

**Chapter Twelve: Out of the Woods**

Yuri woke up some time in the early afternoon. They'd arrived in Aurnion around dawn and wasted no time going to the town's only doctor. Flynn had been whisked away for treatment, Sodia was asked to stick around to make sure she had no underlying complications from their two and a half weeks in the wilderness, and then a nurse handed Yuri some cream to put on the nettle stings.

Back at the inn, Judith helped him get all of them, especially since several were on the back of his neck, but by the time they were all covered, every inch of exposed skin was white. This was an improvement on the bumpy red welts he'd been covered in before, but that didn't stop Karol from laughing at him. After a very long day and an entire night of fighting, getting stung, and flying on Ba'ul's bare back, he fell asleep.

When he woke up, he was relieved to find that the cream had soaked into his skin and he no longer looked like he'd gone overboard on makeup foundation. The welts were still present but only hurt when he moved them and at least the burning sensation was gone. Karol was still fast asleep in the bed next to his, so he slipped on his shoes quietly, pulled on his vest, and headed out.

Compared to Zaphias, Aurnion was tiny. It didn't take long to reach the doctor's office, and as soon as he entered, the nurses remembered him from this morning.

"Good afternoon, Yuri," a young nurse named Jenny said, looking up from the desk in the main room. "How are those stings feeling?"

"I think they look worse than they feel. Thanks for that cream; it really helped."

"My pleasure," she said brightly. "Are you here to see the commandant?"

"Yeah." He leaned forward on the desk. "How's he doing?"

She patted his elbow. "He's going to be just fine, don't worry. Sodia is fine as well. She's sleeping back at the inn because the doctor said there was no need to keep her here."

"Yeah, that's great." He hurried her along, because honestly Sodia's condition wasn't a huge concern of his. "What room is Flynn in?"

"The first one on the left. If he feels up to it, you can take him out for some fresh air. I'm pretty sure he's awake."

"Great, thanks." In under a minute, Yuri was through the main room, into the hall, and then entered the first door on the left.

Flynn jumped when he entered and craned his neck over his shoulder. "Of course it's you. You're the only one who never knocks."

He smirked. "Gotta keep you on your toes." Flynn sat in a wheelchair by the window, so Yuri frowned and added, "Especially since you're not even on your toes right now."

He sat on the edge of the bed across from Flynn. Flynn looked better already, though part of that was just that his hair had been washed and his face shaved, and he wore clean, pale blue pyjamas instead of his ripped and mud-encrusted uniform. He still looked tired and pale, with sunken eyes and shallow cheeks. Even with the loose pyjamas covering his frame, Yuri could tell he was skinnier than a fence post. Bandages encased his wrist and palm, and his leg stuck out in front of him on a footrest attached to the chair. Sodia's impromptu branch splints had been replaced by professional metal ones, but the leg was still crooked.

"What's with this?" Yuri gestured at the leg. "Aren't they going to fix it?"

Flynn scowled and rested his chin on his fist. "It's complicated. The bone's already started regrowing to heal itself, except - as I'm sure you can see - it's crooked."

It was like a new joint had spring up halfway down his shin, bending his leg inward. "Yeah. That's a problem. Can you even walk if it keeps healing like that?"

"Unlikely."

"So… what are you going to do?" Flynn spent so much time on his feet, running around and saving people, that to imagine him crippled for life was simply impossible.

"On the plus side, it's not beyond fixing. The doctor can't set it now because the bone's already healing, but he can fix it if I break it again."

Yuri eyed the bruised and swollen leg. "Are you _planning_ on breaking it again?"

"I have to, don't I? It's the only thing to do if I want to walk again. I just have to let the doctor re-break my leg so he can put it back together in the right position."

Yuri winced just thinking about this happening to someone else. "That sounds really painful."

"It will be." Flynn grimaced.

"How come you haven't done it yet? Don't you want to get it out of the way?"

"I'm waiting for Lady Estellise. Judith already left, actually. She's picking Lady Estellise up in Halure and bringing her here so she can use healing magic on my leg. There's no point putting myself through re-breaking it until she's here to heal it seconds later."

"That makes sense," Yuri said while nodding. "And I guess you can't use any other gels or stuff for your other injuries?"

"Nope. Any magic-based healing would target my leg and just making re-breaking it more difficult later. They offered me medication to ease the pain, but that stuff makes you loopy and after my stint with delirium I'd rather keep my head clear."

Yuri considered this for a moment. "That sucks."

"Yeah." Flynn yawned and leaned back in his chair. "All things considered, though… I'm alright. It could have been a lot worse."

"I'm glad to hear that, then." He grinned and stood up. "So, what do you say we ditch this join and go for a walk?"

"I don't know. I'm still pretty tired and I'm not really dressed for-"

"Good, let's go." He grabbed the handles of Flynn's wheelchair and pushed him toward the door.

"Huh? Hey, Yuri! I didn't agree to this."

Yuri's grin only expanded as he pushed Flynn out the room and through the main office. He waved happily to Jenny as he steered Flynn out to the street. "I don't know, Flynn, Judy's probably gonna be back with Estelle by tomorrow and then you'll be on your feet again. I feel like I have this rare window of opportunity to push you around like this."

"Are you actually taking advantage of my injuries? I thought you were better than this, Yuri." He crossed his arms and sulked, but he didn't actually sound too mad.

"Come on, you need to get fresh air anyway." Yuri cheerfully made his way down the street, while the wheels of Flynn's chair kicked up dust on the dirt road.

"I think I've had enough fresh air, thanks," Flynn said. "I haven't been indoors for two and a half weeks."

"Like you wanted to spend the whole day sitting in a stuffy hospital room. Hey, let's see how fast these wheels can go!"

"Yuri, no-"

He took off running toward the town gate, pushing the chair as fast as he could. Flynn gripped the armrests while Yuri laughed his head off. The trundling wheels hit the wooden drawbridge and the smooth surface gave him a burst of speed. They zipped out of the town and Yuri careened to the side, screeching to a halt just as they reached the grass.

Yuri couldn't stop laughing, and seeing Flynn's indignant expression just set him off again. "I have never seen you this grumpy." He pushed the chair over the grass away from the gate and then fell down with a grin.

"I really hate you sometimes."

"No you don't." Yuri stretched his arms through the soft grass. He was still a bit tired after last night. "Besides, are you really going to say you hate me after I went to _all_ the trouble of finding you in the forest?"

Flynn sighed wearily, like it pained him greatly to have to be thankful to Yuri. "I suppose I ought to thank you for that. Those stings you're covered in can be preemptive punishment for pushing me around."

Yuri chuckled again. "If you say so."

"Really, though… thanks."

"Don't mention it. You'd do the same for me. Of course, if anyone tried assassinating _me_, I'd kick their asses! Some commandant you are."

Flynn twisted in his seat and scowled at Yuri. "We took care of them just fine. It was the fall that did me in."

"Clumsy commandant."

Flynn rolled his eyes and shook his head, choosing to ignore Yuri's immature jabs. "Now Mimula will think I've killed both her brothers. I'll need to stay on my toes because a second attempt on my life by her is likely."

"Can't you arrest her for planning this first one?" Yuri sat up enough to rest his head in his hand while lying on his side.

"I can certainly try. Getting enough evidence will be the hard part. It would be easy to make it look like Simon came after me on his own, and that he was the one who originally hired the assassins."

"Ugh." Yuri wrinkled his nose. He didn't even know why he was surprised; bastard nobles getting away with shit was just another day in the empire. "Well, at least we don't have to worry about Simon getting off. You're not going to tell me I shouldn't have killed him, are you? Because this wasn't like his brother - he was actively going after Sodia when I stabbed him."

Flynn shook his head. "No, I understand entirely. That was clearly self-defence. Besides… I'm not entirely sure you and Sodia are the ones who killed him."

Yuri sat up and frowned as Flynn pensively watched the grass. "Are you talking about that… uh, monster you were going on about last night?"

"I honestly don't know. The further I get from it, the less realistic it seems." With his eyes on Yuri he said, "You know when you first wake up from a dream and everything is fresh and real in your mind and you're certain it really happened? And then it takes you a few minutes to gradually remember that the big test is still a week away and finding yourself naked while giving a speech didn't actually happen?"

"Not… specifically, but yeah, I get where you're going."

"The longer you're awake, the less real the dream feels. The details slip away and the edges blur and you wonder how you ever thought it was real in the first place. Of course your father isn't a squirrel, what were you thinking?"

"What the hell kind of dreams are you having?"

He shook his head quickly to brush aside Yuri's comments. "Now that I'm out of the woods, surrounded by civilization and daylight, it all seems so ridiculous. The only time I ever actually _saw_ anything, I was delirious and certainly hallucinating other things. Even when I was healthy, isolation, fear, and darkness can do funny things to your head. My memories of seeing this… this _thing_ have the same fuzzy quality half-remembered dreams do. Even now, I'm having trouble remembering the details."

"Do you remember anything at all?"

Flynn frowned, glancing nervously at Yuri. "The one time I saw it clearly… it looked like you."

Yuri balked. "Me? How would it even know what I look like?"

"I don't know. That's part of why I'm not entirely sure it was real. How could it possibly have matched your appearance, tone of voice, and style of speaking so precisely, unless it was a product of my subconscious?"

"Hm… did you ever, I don't know, touch it or something?"

"I think so. Actually, the time it looked like you ended in it trying to strangle me to death." His fingers drifted over his throat. "As soon as I overpowered it and Sodia arrived, it disappeared and there was no sign of bruising. No evidence it had tried to kill me."

As confusing as that was, Yuri was still stuck on the fact that his nameless being had worn his own face while trying to kill Flynn. He couldn't even imagine how much it would mess him up if Flynn tried to kill him, even if he knew it wasn't actually Flynn. Did even looking at him remind Flynn of getting strangled? Damn, maybe it was a good thing those memories were getting fuzzier. His glower deepened. "How dare that thing use _my_ face? That's just plain rude."

"It's fine, Yuri. I know it wasn't you. It was freaky, certainly, but I'm not too worked up over it."

"Yeah, ok." Yuri crossed his arms stubbornly. "That thing had better hope it doesn't exist, because I'm gonna kick its ass if I see it."

Flynn frowned and started to open his mouth, and then second-guessed his decision to point out the logical flaw in Yuri's assertion. "That's very touching, Yuri. You probably won't have to worry yourself. All logic says it was a hallucination."

"If it was something, what do you think it was?"

Flynn frowned and shook his head. "I honestly don't have any idea. Not an ordinary monster, but not an Entelexeia either. Definitely not human or Krityan."

"Something new?"

"No… something very old."

Yuri watched the silent trees across the field. "That's… weird."

"Yeah."

"Let's not go back to that forest."

Flynn added even more conviction. "Yeah."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Yuri tried to pretend everything was normal, but if things were normal, Flynn would be sprawled out in the grass next to him and not awkwardly seated in a wheelchair with a face that said he hadn't been given nearly enough pain meds. Getting lost in a forest was not something Yuri had ever seriously considered as a way he might lose Flynn, but he really had come alarmingly close. If Simon had held out just a minute longer… Yuri didn't even want to think about it.

"I meant to tell you." Flynn broke the silence. "Sodia told me what happened at Zaude."

Yuri stopped fiddling with the grass. It was hard to read Flynn's carefully even tone. Yuri tried to match that with, "Good for her."

"So… are you going to tell me why you never told me yourself?"

He shrugged one shoulder and started playing with the grass again. "It was between me and Sodia. I didn't see a reason to drag you into it."

"Maybe I would have liked to have known that one of my most trusted subordinates tried to murder an ally behind my back."

"So you wanted me to tattle? Sodia and I worked it out. We had other things to deal with at the time than dragging you into it."

"You've had six months to tell me since the Adephagos was taken care of."

Yuri pushed off the grass and sat upright. "I understood her motivations. I could hardly condemn her doing the same thing I did. I was fine and I thought you needed her, so I didn't see a reason to throw the midden at the windmill by pointing fingers."

"It doesn't matter that you were fine. She tried to _kill_ you. That _matters_. Your life is important."

"Considering how touchy-feely you two were last night, it seems like you worked out your differences. Why do you insist on dragging up the past?"

Flynn slammed his fist on the armrest. "Because you almost died and never told me."

"Hey, I'm the one who got stabbed. Don't forgive Sodia and then hold a grudge against her victim."

"I'm mad because you always do this. Why do you act like it doesn't matter if you die?"

Yuri rolled his eyes. "Of course it matters to me, and don't think I'm happy to just forgive and forget with Sodia. It's not that I forgive her for trying to kill me, I just know there are things more important than that. She's valuable to you, and she can help you accomplish your goal of changing the empire from within. I didn't want to mess that up by pointing fingers. What good would that do?"

Flynn met his eyes for a long moment before finally blinking and glancing away. "I get it."

"Good. So, are we good?"

"Just… think about how you felt this past week when you didn't know where I was. Especially last night, when you had no idea if Simon had gotten to me first and you thought I might be dead. Really think about how that made you feel."

Yuri couldn't help but pull up those memories as Flynn spoke, and they hurt even though he knew Flynn was fine. When he'd thought Flynn might already be dead, murdered and buried somewhere deep in the forest where he'd never be found…. That was the worst feeling in the world. The only time that could compare was when Estelle had been kidnapped by Alexei.

Flynn saw the pain in his eyes. "That's how I felt for _weeks_ after Zaude. I'm sure all your other friends felt the same way. You say it's no big deal since you're fine now, but you're not the only one who was hurt by Sodia's actions.

For the first time, Yuri felt a little guilty about keeping this a secret. "Sorry."

Flynn tried to stay stubborn and unhappy with him, but after maintaining eye contact for about half a minute, a smile slipped to his face and he pulled his head away. "I'm too happy to not be dead to stay mad at you. Just don't ever do it again."

"Yeah. I promise. So, what's the deal with Sodia? Are you arresting her, or…?"

"No, I'm not pressing charges. He glanced at Yuri and quickly added, "Unless you want to, of course. I've decided to let her off with a warning. I know that sounds pretty mild for the severity of her crime, but I firmly believe she's already learned from her mistake and I tasked her with dedicating her life to protecting the empire. She's not a dangerous or evil person, so I thought she deserved the chance for atonement. I made my decision based on the assumption that you didn't want to press charges since you hadn't mentioned it. If you want her punishment to be harsher, you of course have the right to request that."

Yuri shook his head. "No, that sounds fine. Oh, wait, can you make it part of her punishment that she's not allowed to glare at me behind your back like I'm an axe murderer in a preschool?"

Flynn wrinkled his brow. "Does she really…? I mean, it can't be _that_ bad."

"Well she certainly doesn't like me."

"To be fair, you don't like her very much, either."

Yuri shrugged with a mild frown; no point denying it.

Flynn sighed. "I really wish you two would try to get along more. You're both important to me and my life would be easier if you could be in the same room as each other without the temperature spiking."

"Hey, she stabbed me!" It was nice that he could whip that out as a defence now that Flynn knew the truth. "I don't think I have any obligation to be nice to people who tried to murder me."

With a slight smile and a shake of his head, Flynn said, "I suppose I can't hold that against you."

Yuri gave up on sitting upright and fell back into the grass. He usually felt fidgety if he sat around doing nothing for too long, but today it was nice to relax. The grass was soft, the breeze warm, and the sky so blue the over-saturated colour seemed to bleed into the snowcapped mountains behind Aurnion. He took simple pleasure in Flynn's presence next to him, even if it did come in a wheelchair. Flynn suddenly disappearing off the map and vanishing into the wilderness was not a stress Yuri had ever prepared himself for, nor one he wanted to experience again.

It must have been at least five minutes before Flynn said, "Yuri? Can we go in now?"

He lazily turned his head. "Already?"

"Sorry. I'm tired and my leg is killing me. I'm starting to considering taking the doctor up on those pain medications."

"Yeah, of course." Yuri jumped to his feet. Just looking at Flynn's misshapen leg made his ache; he didn't even want to imagine the level of pain Flynn must have endured in a constant drone for two and a half weeks. "Although, you know…" He started strolling toward the gate. "I could just leave you here."

Flynn glared at him. "Don't you dare."

"I don't want to encourage laziness or anything by pushing you around all the time. You've got to do some of the mobilizing yourself!" The aggravation in Flynn's eyes brought joy to Yuri's heart. Maybe it was a dick move, but taunting Flynn made everything seem so much more normal.

"You know I can't walk."

"You can move your own wheels, can't you? Use your arms! Willpower!"

"That would be rather difficult, considering the wheels are currently dug into the grass and turning will be hard. Besides, with my wrist sprained I can only move one wheel at a time."

Yuri had a quick mental image of Flynn spinning in circles with ever-mounting frustration, which amused him far more than was probably healthy.

"What are you grinning at?!"

"Nothing," he said with an innocence so over-the-top it was pure guilt.

"Just push me back to the doctor's office."

Yuri put his hands on his waist. "Awfully demanding of you. I know your mother taught you better than that! How are you supposed to ask people for favours?"

Flynn grabbed the wheel and leaned, trying to turn back toward the gate on his own. The chair rocked, the wheels stuck in the damp soil. Yuri stepped forward before the chair actually tipped over and grabbed the handles. "Here, don't hurt yourself."

"If I had, it would be your fault." He crossed his arms and sat in the chair with an expression of pure disgruntlement as Yuri pushed him back into town.

"I'll make it up to you." They rolled over the wooden drawbridge.

"How?"

"Sodia told me you've been living on weeds and stuff for the past week. So, as soon as your doctor says you're recovered enough to eat a big meal, I'm going to cook you a feast."

"Oh…" It was almost a moan.

Yuri pushed Flynn through the rest of town, until they were almost at the doctor's office and he said, "Flynn… don't tell Estelle or the others about Zaude, alright?"

Flynn looked over his shoulder. "You plan to still keep this a secret?"

"It doesn't concern them even more than it didn't concern you. It would just make them upset."

"I think you ought to be honest with your friends, but I'll respect your decision."

"Thanks."

* * *

Estelle arrived the next morning. Karol and Repede woke Yuri up to tell him she and Judith had arrived, and then they walked with a brisk pace to the doctor's office to meet them. A bell jingled when they entered the office, and they found Estelle, Judith, and Rita in conversation with Sodia. Yuri shouldn't have been surprised to see Rita; Estelle rarely travelled without her.

Estelle finished what she was saying to Sodia and started saying hello as she turned around. "Hello, Yuri, it's good to - oh! Your face! What happened?" She was on top of him before he could reply, grabbing his arms and inspecting the lingering welts. "Oh no, let me heal you."

"Estelle, it's fine, they don't hurt any-"

"First Aid!"

With a flash of golden light, the marks disappeared.

"…more." Yuri dropped his arm. "Well, thanks for that anyway."

"What happened to you?" Rita asked, her arms crossed and lurking by the wall. Her posture had been carefully constructed to make it clear she was only here because Estelle begged her and not because she was actually worried about Flynn or anything.

"He fell in a patch of nettles," Karol said.

"Hey, technically I got pushed. And the other guy is worse off now."

Estelle cocked her head. "What happened to him?"

Sodia answered, "He's dead."

"I told them the full story," Judith said. "At least, the parts of it I know."

"Yeah, thanks," Yuri said. He hadn't bothered filling her and Karol in on the precise details of what had happened after they split up, mostly because there were parts that weren't entirely glamorous. Dangling upside-down from a tree and falling into a patch of nettles were some of those parts.

"You should have told me Flynn was missing!" Estelle said, her fists on her hips. "I could have helped!"

Yuri leaned back to avoid her wrath. "Ah… sorry about that. When we first set off for Egothor, we weren't expecting him to be missing."

Estelle deflated and smiled again. "Oh, well, I suppose that's alright."

Footsteps, and then nurse Jenny appeared in the room. "If you're ready, Your Highness, we can begin the procedure now."

"Oh, good!" Before immediately charging off, she glanced to Yuri and asked softly, "I haven't even seen Flynn yet. Is he really bad?"

Yuri grimaced. "It's not pretty. Nothing you can't heal, though."

She nodded with a tight smile. "Good."

The whole group followed Jenny into Flynn's room. Jenny glanced disapprovingly at Repede, but since the princess and the commandant seemed alright with him there, she didn't comment.

Flynn sat in bed, propped up by pillows, with a tray on his lap. He didn't look much better than yesterday, but there was a bit more pink in his cheeks. His right leg was exposed, and the splint that had held it still yesterday had already been removed. He smiled when he saw them. "Good morning, everyone. Lady Estellise, it's good to see you."

Estelle gasped and hurried to his bedside. "Oh, Flynn…"

"Please calm down. Really, I'm fine." As he spoke, Jenny cleared the tray and empty bowl from his lap and left the room with it.

"You clearly aren't!"

"It's ok, Estelle," Rita said. "You're going to heal him in just a few minutes, aren't you?"

"Well, yes…" She gave Flynn a pained look. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to heal you the moment you got injured. And you're so skinny…"

"Geeze, Estelle," Yuri said. "You sound like his mother."

Her hand covered her mouth. "O-oh."

"Alright!" The door opened again and the doctor entered. "Let's get this show on the road."

Flynn swallowed heavily as he eyed the mallet in the doctor's hand. Yuri couldn't say he liked the looks of it very much himself, and it wasn't even going to be used on him.

"What are you going to do with that?" Karol asked.

The doctor straightened his glasses and then lightly swung the mallet into his hand. "Quite simple, my boy. He commandant's leg is healing crooked, so we're going to smash it to separate the broken pieces, pop them back into alignment, and then Princess Estellise is going to using an arte to accelerate the healing to finish it off!" His thick moustache bristled as he grinned. "Well, it is slightly more complicated than that, of course. You can't just go around smashing people's injuries with a hammer and expect it to fix them, right?"

He guffawed, but it petered out when he realized no one was joining him. The whole group stared at him nervously, none more than Flynn who was completely horrified. "Don't you worry, lad. I know what I'm doing."

Karol sidled closer to Yuri while the doctor moved on to Flynn's bedside. In a low voice, Karol whispered, "If I ever break my leg, I don't want this doctor."

"Yeah, I'll save us the bill and smash it with a hammer myself, shall I?"

Karol glanced up nervously. "W-wait, that's not what I meant."

"You lads!" the doctor bellowed, pointing to Karol and Yuri with the mallet. "I'm going to need your help. You ladies can help as well."

"We'd be glad to," Judith said, smiling sweetly. "Do you need someone to wield the hammer?"

Yuri laughed. "Judy, we want to crack the fracture, not shatter the leg entirely."

"That's right, my boy," the doctor said. "Gentle. Precise. I'll be doing the cracking."

"Aww," she pouted. "I wanted to wield the hammer."

Sodia cleared her throat. "Is all this banter really necessary? The commandant is in a great deal of pain so let's get this over with so he can finally relax."

Yuri ignored her and spoke to Judith. "Don't worry, I'm sure if you ask nicely, Flynn will let you shatter his leg some other time. Right, Flynn?"

Flynn shook his head wearily. "Sodia is right; let's just get this over with, please."

"Right! I need you lot to hold him down."

"Hold me down?" Flynn looked to the doctor with alarm. "Why do I need to be held down?"

"Because you're going to want to punch me and I'd rather you didn't."

"Oh," he replied weakly while the door opened and Jenny returned.

"We're all ready to go," the doctor said. "Everyone, take your positions. Jenny, hold his knee for me, please."

Yuri stood by Flynn's right shoulder and planted his hand over it. Sodia was on his other side, while Judy pinned his left leg. Karol, Estelle, and Rita stood back and watched nervously. Yuri met Flynn's eyes and nodded slightly, and then Flynn grabbed his hand. His grip was weak considering the sprain, but Yuri squeezed back reassuringly.

The doctor lined up the head of the mallet with the site of the fracture. "Ok, Commandant. You know how doctors say, 'this won't hurt a bit' to mean it's going to be mildly discomforting and borderline painful? Well… this is going to hurt. I'll go on three."

Flynn clenched his teeth and nodded. His grip on Yuri's hand tightened.

"One…."

The mallet swung, and a loud _crack_ resounded through the room. This was followed by Flynn's left foot smashing into Judith's chin.

"_You lying bastard_!" Flynn screamed. He tried to sit up, presumably to punch the doctor, but Yuri and Sodia managed to keep him pinned against the pile of pillows.

With a passive smile, the doctor gripped Flynn's ankle in one hand and his shin just below the knee in the other and yanked, twisted, and finally shoved the leg back into place. While this happened, Flynn's grip on Yuri's hand tightened so much Yuri feared Flynn's leg wouldn't be the only broken bone the room would see today. Flynn's face scrunched up and he took short, deep breaths through clenched teeth.

"There we go!" the doctor said cheerfully. "All straight. Your Highness, you can use your artes now."

Estelle rushed forward without a word. Within seconds she unleashed a golden wave of energy, focusing primarily on his leg but shooting across his body to heal the numerous other small injuries. When she was done, Flynn's breathing finally calmed and he released his iron grip on Yuri's hand. "Is that ok, Flynn?" she asked. "Do you need more?"

"No," Flynn panted while Yuri massaged his aching hand. "That's… perfect. Thank you."

"I'm just glad you feel better."

The doctor set the mallet on the table and wiped his hands. "My job here is done. You can pay the bill for medical treatment on your way out, Commandant."

"Yeah…" Flynn said, not really paying attention with his eyes closed. "Thanks."

Yuri eyed the mallet, considering using it on the doctor who had a very casual attitude toward causing his patients pain.

"You're all healed, Flynn," Estelle said, "but broken bones are pretty major, so I couldn't _completely_ heal it. It will take a few days to a week or so to get full strength back. Take it easy and don't run around on it and you should be fine."

"Thank you again."

"So what are you going to do now?" Karol asked. "Technically your vacation ended almost a week ago."

He opened his eyes and his voice regained some of its strength. "I'm going back to Zaphias."

"Sir, are you sure that's wise?" Sodia asked. "Your injuries have healed but you're still weak. The effects of malnutrition can't be fixed with a healing arte."

"I know," he nodded. "My vacation is over but I'm going to take another week of sick leave. I feel ripped off, since my vacation wasn't terribly relaxing at all."

"You could spend it in Aurnion as originally planned," Judith suggested. "That way you won't have to be around the Council and people wanting you to get back to work."

"That's true, but honestly I really just want to go home and sleep in my own room."

"I can understand that," Yuri said. "We need to be getting back to Dahngrest anyway. We'll drop you and Sodia off in Zaphias on the way."

* * *

The first thing Flynn did when he got back to Zaphias was arrest Mimula Cumore. He gathered a group of surprised knights at the castle and led them to her house, wanting to get this out of the way as soon as possible. His knights were surprised to see the commandant show up almost a week late at the end of his vacation and hobbling around with a cane, but they had nothing on the satisfying shock displayed on Mimula's face when she answered the door.

"You!" she gasped.

"Good afternoon. Mimula Cumore, you are under arrest for conspiring against the Imperial Knighthood and attempting to assassinate the commandant."

"You can't prove… I have no idea what you're talking about." She attempted to slam the door shut, but Flynn caught it with his cane.

"Your brother told me you sent him, Ms. Cumore." He pushed against the door. He'd managed to keep her from closing it because his cane jammed the doorway, but that meant he didn't have the cane to lean on and he was rather short on physical strength at the moment. Mimula shoved back against the door, knocking him off balance.

Sodia caught him before he hit the ground. Before even getting to his feet again, he pointed to the door and said, "Knights, after her! We can get her on resisting arrest now, too."

His knights stormed past, busting the door open with ease. Flynn stood back with Sodia, righting himself and breathing hard. It was embarrassing that such little effort had exhausted him, but considering Estelle had fixed his leg only this morning, he supposed it wasn't too bad. "Thanks," he said to Sodia.

"Any time, sir."

The knights returned, pushing a furious Mimula in front of them. "Unhand me!" she shrieked. "You have no evidence! I'll have you impeached for this!"

Flynn sighed and leaned on the cane. He was too tired to deal with her bullshit today. "Ms. Cumore, _you_ gave me a false report to get me to go to Egothor Forest where - coincidentally - and assassination attempt occurred. Then - coincidentally - your older brother showed up to finish the job when the first attempt failed. He also coincidentally told me that you had begged him to kill me. There is such a thing as coincidence, and then there is a chain of events that clearly points to a culprit. Of course, since this is a fair government, we will let the courts decide which is which."

"You're lying." Her normally pretty face distorted with fury. "Simon would never accuse me. Where is he? I want to talk to him."

"He's dead."

Her eyes widened. "What? No. He can't be!"

Sodia said, "Simon Cumore died of his injuries two nights ago in Egothor Forest after provoking a battle with myself and a civilian. He was mortally wounded as a result of our defensive attacks."

"You killed my brother!" Fury transformed into anguish. "Just like you killed Alex. Now both my brothers are dead because of you!" She launched herself at Flynn, grabbing his shirt before he had a chance to move. Tears welled up in her eyes as she screamed, "You _beast! _You've destroyed my whole family."

Knights grappled with her and pried her off Flynn, while Sodia grabbed his arm to stabilize him. When Mimula's hands finally let go of their vice-grip on Flynn's shirt, she dropped to her knees and hung her head, surrounded by the drawn swords of knights ready for her to make another move. Despite that, Flynn had a feeling she was done.

"He's dead…" she murmured. "Both my brothers are dead now. This is really it. I've lost everything."

Flynn's ability to feel sympathy for her was hindered by the fact that she was to blame for all his pain and suffering over the past two weeks. Even still, he couldn't help feeling a sliver of pity for the woman. Her assassination attempts had really been ill-thought-out and desperate. She was less a criminal mastermind and more a desperate woman grasping at straws in an attempt to bring her life back to normal. "Ms. Cumore, you are under arrest. You will be given a fair trial."

"Yes," she whispered. The knights grabbed her arms and pulled her to her feet before handcuffing her. While placing the cuffs, she looked to Flynn with wet eyes and asked, "Did Simon suffer when he died?"

Flynn thought of those awful rips and screams and suppressed a shudder. "He bled out from a wound to his abdomen. I do not think he suffered unduly."

"Good. I never liked him very much, you know? But still… he was my brother."

"Perhaps you should not have sent him to kill me," Flynn replied coolly.

Mimula hung her head, and then the knights led her away. Flynn half-leaned and half-sat on the metal rail around her front stoop. His leg hurt from standing for so long, but it felt good to walk around after over two weeks on his back.

"I can't believe her," Sodia said, watching the knights lead her away with a scowl. "Does she really expect anyone to give her sympathy after what she did? Simon was a monster; he deserved what he got."

"Maybe so," Flynn said. "But I don't envy Mimula. She doesn't seem to have any close friends, and now that she's lost the last of her family, she's all alone. I don't know how I would have turned out if I didn't have friends to rely on after losing my family. She really is pitiable."

"Sir, sometimes I fear you're too nice for your own good."

Flynn smiled and pushed himself upright. "Heh. Maybe I am."

Sodia held out her arm to help him down the steps to the street. "I can't complain, of course, after you showed unwarranted kindness and mercy toward me."

"Maybe that was selfishness, though." They started the walk to the castle, moving slowly to accommodate Flynn's limp. "You're my only friend in the Knights and I didn't want to give that up."

Sodia made a small flustered sound but didn't reply.

Walking on cobbled streets with a cane was aggravating because it kept twisting into the cracks. Hopefully his leg would be healed completely by the time he had to wander the streets again. He was going to have to relegate himself strictly to desk work for a little while. After a few minutes of walking, Flynn said, "We should stop somewhere on the way home and grab a bite to eat."

"But we already had lunch, sir."

"I'm still hungry." He'd been hungry since he woke up without a fever four days ago.

"If you insist. I'll pay."

"You really don't have to do that."

She bit her lip and frowned. "It's just… I still feel guilty that your condition deteriorated as much as it did. It's my fault you got sick. I should have realized your wound would get infected."

"And what would you have done about it if you had?"

"I… don't know. But that's no excuse for failing you."

Flynn shook his head. "Sodia, if you hadn't insisted on going to the forest with me, I would be dead now. With that as a starting point, everything you did can only possibly be positive. You did everything you could and more, so don't blame yourself."

She smiled. "Thank you, sir."

"Anyway, I said we should hang out more outside of work, so let's get dessert somewhere and split the tab."

"Are we allowed? Aren't we still on duty?"

Flynn shrugged. "Who's going to get mad at us? I'm the commandant. Anyway, I'm taking time off for a few days. Lady Estellise will surely scold me if I walk around too much." He counted arresting Mimula as working overtime. From his reasoning, any day you woke up in the hospital and endured painful medical procedures could officially be counted as a sick day.

"Hm, alright. That sounds like fun. I certainly hope whatever we get tastes better than the last meal we shared."

Flynn laughed. "Anything would be a step up from dandelions."

* * *

Estelle rushed to pull the blankets back from his bed. "Here you go!"

"Thank you," Flynn said, "but really, Lady Estellise, you don't need to do this." She had refused to return to Halure until Flynn was completely better, instead insisting on staying in the castle and making sure he took care of himself. She had cooked him dinner that night, too, against all protests that he really wasn't sick. His only issue was that his leg was still weak and he didn't need her futzing around him, but Estelle seemed to want to compensate for not being around to help him when he first got injured by overdoing it now.

Flynn sat on the side of his bed and took a few seconds to appreciate how wonderful and soft it was. After getting ice cream with Sodia, he'd still had things to do when he got back to the castle before he could officially start his time off. There had been arrest papers for Mimula to fill out, meetings to attend with angry Council members who thought he'd purposefully extended his vacation, and piled up reports and requests that really needed to be taken care of at once. Finally, the day was over and he could go to bed.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" Estelle asked.

He shook his head. "You've done more than enough already."

"Ok. Good." She hugged him, for what was probably the fiftieth time that day. With his face pressed against her shoulder, she said, "I'm sorry if I'm babying you, but I'm just so worried about you. I hate it when you or Yuri gets hurt and I'm not there to help."

"I understand." He managed to pry out of her grip. "I can't imagine Yuri is too fond of your care, either."

She giggled. "He's always so indignant when he comes to me for healing. You know how he is. Well, if there isn't anything else I can help you with, I'll let you sleep."

"Oh, wait a moment," he said as a thought suddenly occurred to him. Estelle was the most well-read person he had ever met.

"Do you need something?"

"I was just wondering if you've ever read something about… creatures that aren't monsters but aren't Entelexeia, either." Even finding a word to describe the thing was difficult.

She frowned and put her finger to her lips. "Hm… I don't think so. I never even knew about Entelexeia until I met Belius."

"I see." He hadn't expected her to know, but it was worth a shot. The mere fact that a temple existed deep in the woods meant there must be some record of the people who built it and maybe the thing they worshipped, but it was also possible all knowledge of it had been lost to history.

"I suppose there's no real reason to assume such a thing couldn't exist, though," she continued. "There are still so many unexplored regions in the world, and so much we don't know. It's rather exciting, isn't it? To think of how many mysteries the world still holds?"

Flynn nodded slowly but without much conviction. He wasn't so sure he found the world's mysteries so exciting when one of them had possibly tried to kill him.

"Why do you ask?"

"No real reason." There was no point alarming her with his stories of shadowy beasts that in all likelihood didn't even exist.

"Ok. Well, goodnight, Flynn! I hope you feel better in the morning."

She left, and he quickly changed into his pyjamas and fell into bed. He sighed deeply as he sunk into pillows and blankets and buried his face into his fluffy blanket with a smile. Nothing could make someone miss their own bed quite like sleeping on the ground in the middle of the wilderness for two weeks. If civilization meant cozy beds, he was civilization's biggest fan. He drifted off to sleep within minutes of his head hitting the pillows.

He wasn't sure what woke him up in the middle of the night. It was probably a carriage trundling too loudly on the street, or one of the night maids bumping into something and making a crash elsewhere in the castle. Maybe he was just so unfamiliar with sleeping without the sounds of nature all around that his brain woke up to check that things were still alright. In either case, he found himself awake and immediately rolled over with a groan. He should be asleep. He was going to let himself sleep in the next day, but that didn't mean he should stay up all night.

With a yawn, he glanced around his room. It was nearly pitch black, but a slight movement from the corner of his eye called his attention. His heart leapt and his head shot around. In a split second, his mind filled with images of monsters, claws, and the overpowering reek of blood. It took almost five seconds for his heart to calm down and realize it was all just memories freaking him out. The movement had been nothing but a tree branch waving outside the window. At least… he was pretty sure that's what it was.

Flynn shook his head, silently reprimanding himself for being so skittish over something so childish. He was home now, safe in his own bed, and there was no reason to fear things that went bump in the night. He rolled over, closed his eyes, and waited for the telltale rush of wind outside that would confirm there was enough of a breeze to make the tree branches move. He was still waiting to hear a single gust of wind when he finally fell back to sleep.

* * *

A/N: The end. Thank you for reading!

Also, if you're really desperate for more answers on the shadowy creature of the forest, you can PM me. I purposefully left out most of the details about how exactly it works, because I've always found that scary stories become a lot less scary when you know exactly what's going on. But if you really the answers, I can tell you.


End file.
